Clifford Chance

A Presidential Pardon? Extensions of time and the Takeovers Panel: The President's Club Limited 02

18 February 2016

On 5 February 2016, the Takeovers Panel (Panel) issued a media release stating that it had made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances in relation to Palmer Leisure Coolum Pty Ltd's (PLC) acquisition of a relevant interest in 44.3% of the shares in The President's Club Limited (TPC) in 2011 and 2012 (which occurred in contravention of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act)). The case is part of a dispute spanning almost five years over an attempted buyout of 80 timeshare villas at the Palmer Coolum Resort in the Sunshine Coast by entities associated with Mr Clive Palmer. In December 2015, the Federal Court issued a judgment which paved the way for the Panel to make the declaration, despite both the application made to the Panel and the timing of the Panel's declaration falling outside of the usual time frames.

This is an important series of decisions on the two month time period for bringing an application to the Takeovers Panel and the discretion of the Panel and/or the Court to extend time for applications and declarations. This briefing note highlights the key takeaways.

 

 

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