Panel rules four Seafresh investors breached code

By ELLEN READ

The recent purchase of almost 56 per cent of Seafresh by four investors breaches the Takeovers Code so a temporary trading ban on the affected shares has been extended.

The Takeovers Panel ruled yesterday that former Brierley executive Paddy Marra (19.79 per cent stake), Michael Kooiman (19.79), Balmoral Investment Trust (14.48 ) and Kate Foot (1.89) acted together to buy the shares from the Lim family.

This falls foul of the code, which bans the acquisition of stakes bigger than 20 per cent without a full takeover offer being made.

While the individual stakes are all below the 20 per cent cap, the panel deems the four to have acted together, so each is considered to be the holder of more than 20 per cent.

The panel has yet to decide what action to take but has extended - until July 18 - a temporary ban preventing the new owners from buying or selling Seafresh shares or voting on any issue relating to the company.

One possible course of action is for the panel to apply to the court to have the sales reversed.

On June 11, the Lims, 56 per cent shareholders in Seafresh, announced they had sold almost all their shares to four unnamed investors. The family sold 36.949 million shares for 0.27c a share. They kept 900 shares and a place on the board of the fishing company they founded in 1982.

Marra has been appointed chairman and director of Seafresh, and Kooiman is now a director.

The company's shares closed unchanged and untraded at 3.9c yesterday.