On 13 April 2017, the Takeover Panel Executive announced that it had made the following changes to Practice Statement No. 20: Rule 2 – Secrecy, possible offer announcements and pre-announcement responsibilities:
- The addition of a sentence to paragraph 8.2 clarifying that the necessity to consult the Executive before more than a total of six parties is approached about an offer or possible offer remains applicable during an offer period relating to a possible offer by any potential offeror which has not been publicly identified.
- The addition of a new paragraph 8.6 clarifying that in the case of a meeting (including telephone/electronic meetings) with a shareholder or other relevant person before an offer period begins which either relates to the possible offer or would not be taking place save for the possible offer:
- an appropriate financial adviser or corporate broker must attend the meeting; and
- whichever of the above attends the meeting must, by not later than 12 noon the following business day, provide a written confirmation to the Takeover Panel unless (a) no representative of, or adviser to, the offeror or offeree company was present apart from the above person; and (b) no material new information or significant new opinions relating to the possible offer were provided during the meeting.
The full text of the amended Practice Statement showing the changes is available to view at:
http://www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/PS20.track_.pdf
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