Can NZME chair Barbara Chapman continue to call the shots?

NZME chair Barbara Chapman. Source: LinkedIn.

Back in 1998, the then executive chair of brewer Lion Nathan, the late Doug Myers, and his fellow directors stitched up a deal with Kirin to deliver effective control of Lion Nathan to the Japanese brewer with a 45% stake.

The deal was designed to allow Myers to exit his 15% stake in Lion Nathan at a price that was significantly higher than the prevailing market price and for Kirin to gain most of the rest via a stand in the market.

The deal was done and dusted within seconds of its formal announcement, save that there was a carve-out for small retail shareholders, enabling them to sell up to 10.000 shares each at the same price as the Lion Nathan insiders, but limited to a maximum of 27 million shares, or 5% of the company.

But even the retail holders had to rattle their dags because they only had that day to accept.