tax implications

This afternoon I received my call from the wee colleen with the Irish accent. When pressed she said she was calling from Melbourne on behalf of a communications company called "Georgeson Shareholder". According to her the company has been engaged by HDR to remind shareholders of the importance of the vote and of the impending deadline.

She also got around to asking how my vote would go - I told her I hadn't yet voted and was undecided. I figured that if I portrayed myself as an undecided swinger I might generate a follow-up call that could provide a little more intelligence as to how HDR saw the process going.

She was also encouraging an early vote because of the potential mail delays in the "holiday season". This prompted me to wonder whether votes are opened on arrival and if so would an early vote give HDR and/or TLW an early indication of result to use in deciding to revise the offer?

When pressed further she told me her company was Australian. She put me on hold a number of times to seek answers to questions and also often read from a script - felt a lot like a call centre operation.

Anyway I would appreciate ideas on tax implications of accepting the offer. I have read the relevant section of the explanatory memorandum and also spoken to the HDR info line. The latter was no use at all - just referred me to the EM and told me to speak to my own advisor.

It seems clear to me that rollover provisions on CGT will apply to the issued TLW shares. However, I can't get a clear answer on what will happen if I select the "share consideration" option (ie my intention is to take 100% in shares) but ultimately I receive some cash (as will obviously be the case). Will the cash component also be CGT free, as I am being forced into disposing my HDR shares and would prefer to totally roll over into TLW?

This is particularly relevant to anyone (like me) who has their holding in a super fund and is only a few years away from 60. The proposed new super rules would not tax any capital gains after I turn 60. I was thus looking to a tax free capital gain from HDR in a few years. Now TLW has put a fly in that ointment - or have they? Any thoughts...

Solly