KEY POINTS:
Key shareholders in citrus grower Kerifresh have been ordered to sell a 23 per cent stake after they were found to have breached the Takeovers Code.
Investors, and their associates, are not allowed to own more than 20 per cent of shares without shareholder approval or making a takeover offer.
But the Takeovers Panel said the shareholders - Alan and Helen Thompson, and Hamish and Jonathan McHardy - could bid for the parcel, which they were ordered to transfer to brokers ABN Amro Craigs to auction.
The Thompsons and McHardys had provided the commercial solution without involving the courts, but did not accept the panel's findings against them, the Takeovers Panel said.
If the parties buy the shares, they must give notice of a full takeover offer for the rest of the Kerifresh shares, with a minimum acceptance of 50 per cent and other conditions approved by the panel.
Hamish McHardy had indicated he planned to launch a takeover, the panel said. Sale proceeds will be returned to the Thompsons and McHardys, after costs.
The panel had encouraged Turners and Growers to bid for the stake, but had not indicated whether it would.
In October, Turners & Growers suspended its $2/share takeover bid due to breaches of the code by other Kerifresh shareholders, and has launched court proceedings.
That followed the Takeovers Panel's ruling that Kerifresh managing director Alan Thompson, Hamish McHardy, McHardy company Sundry Investments, former director Graham Cowley and his company Iron Hills Vineyards, Emma Jane Eastwood and her company Anbran Trustee Company had not complied with the code.
- NZPA
