The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon David Bradbury MP, has announced the appointments of six new members and the reappointment of 11 members to the Takeovers Panel.
The purpose of the Takeovers Panel is to provide a mechanism for peer review of takeovers activity, with the aim of being more efficient, less formal and more expeditious than the courts.
The functions and powers of the Panel are conferred by the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001.
The following six new members were appointed:
Mrs Julie McPherson is a Corporate Lawyer and Company Director. She is Senior Vice President Legal, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary of Amcor. She has broad experience in corporate governance, finance and commerce. Prior to joining Amcor, she held executive, legal and commercial positions, including Company Secretary and General Counsel at Goodman Fielder, Deputy Managing Director of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Partner, Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Ms Stephanie Daveson is a Corporate Lawyer. She is a partner with Corrs Chambers Westgarth and practices in regulated and unregulated mergers and acquisitions, securities industry law, equity capital markets and corporate governance.
Mr Robin Bishop is an Investment Banker. He is an Executive Director and heads Macquarie Capital's Industrials Group, a team of over 150 executives across Australia/NZ, Asia, Europe and North America. The Industrials Group covers a range of sectors including Retail and Consumer, Food and Beverage, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Capital Goods and Services, Construction, Transport and Logistics, Chemicals, Paper and Packaging, Agriculture and private equity. He has 15 years experience in investment banking, working at Macquarie for 12 years and for Goldman Sachs and Co in London for three years. He is one of Australia's leading investment bankers. He has led a large number of mergers and acquisitions and capital raising assignments across a range of sectors and markets with a combined value in excess of $100 billion.
Mr John Humphrey is a Corporate Lawyer and Company Director. He is a Partner in the Brisbane office of Mallesons Stephen Jacques where he specialises in corporate mergers and acquisitions and general commercial work. He has over 20 years experience as a commercial lawyer in Brisbane where he is a leading Mergers and Acquisitions lawyer. He is very experienced in public company takeover work and capital markets. He is an experienced company director and currently sits on the Boards of Downer EDI Limited, Horizon Oil Limited and Wide Bay Australia Limited.
Mr Tony Osmond is an Investment Banker at Citibank, Head of Investment Banking for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Citibank. He worked at Goldman Sachs in Australia where he was Head of Mergers and Acquisitions and the Natural Resources and Industrials franchise. He has over 16 years of experience in large and complex mergers, acquisitions and capital markets transactions for Australia's largest companies.
Mr John Story is a Corporate Lawyer and Company Director. He was a partner of the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth for 36 years, retiring on 30 June 2006. He practised in the areas of corporate and commercial law and served as Queensland Managing Partner and National Chairman. He is Chairman of Tabcorp Holdings Limited, Chairman of Suncorp-Metway Ltd and a Director of CSR Limited. He is Chancellor of the University of Queensland and is a Commissioner of the Public Service Commission (Queensland).
All members have been appointed until 7 March 2014.
These appointments continue the high level of skills and experience available to the Takeovers Panel, ensuring that the Panel has appropriately qualified members to deal with the differing issues which are raised in applications.
"I would like to express my appreciation to these new and reappointed members, and to the current and previous members, for their commitment to the Panel. Their skills and experience will help ensure that the Panel continues to provide a fair, informal and timely means of dispute resolution of takeovers activity," said Mr Bradbury.
The panel now has a President and 52 members, all of whom are appointed on a part-time basis.
18 March 2011