Is the Takeovers Panel de trop in the NZME board control stoush?

Former Fairfax chief executive was too patrician to mix with upstart internet company founders. Source: The Sydney Institute.

When I first heard that the Takeovers Panel was taking a look at Jim Grenon’s bid to change the board of NZME, I thought they were wasting their time.

Surely, shareholders are allowed to talk to each other, I thought to myself, and talking to one another doesn’t make them related parties.

So, I was rather gobsmacked to see the story published in The Australian newspaper asserting that a draft report from the panel had decided that Grenon should not have continued buying shares once he reached any agreement with other shareholders.

Unfortunately, the panel won’t discuss the matter or release its draft report, so we don’t know exactly why it formed this view and can only rely on The Australian’s story.

I find this unsatisfactory in all sorts of ways because The Australian’s story has been widely reported in New Zealand.