Australian takeover panel blocks Bolton bid on Multiplex Prime Property Fund
08 Sep 2009
Australian rebel investor Nicholas Bolton's bid to secure control of the Multiplex Prime Property Fund received a setback on Monday with the Takeovers Panel freezing his stake in the trust till further notice.
The panel issued an interim order barring Bolton's company, Australian Style Investments from acquiring additional units in the fund and said it would review the situation.
Brookfield Multiplex Capital Management applied to the panel for an interim order seeking to restrain Bolton's company from acquiring units in the Multiplex Prime Property fund, and reversing any on-market trades that happened after a takeover offer was made on Thursday evening.
According to independent directors of the Multiplex Prime Property Fund information was not made available about the offer to the unitholders.
Brookfied Multiplex said that the orders be in place until more information was made available about the proposal and said unitholders should take no action in relation to the bid.
Though Brookfield Multiplex has not specified which information was missing in connection with ASI's offer, according to analysts the company wants to know more about Bolton's intentions for the fund.
The Multiplex Prime Property Fund's securities have dived from peaks of 70 cents in 2001 to the last traded 0.2 cents.
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