Shareholders - at least in the United Kingdom - have for a long time benefited from a clear set of rules enshrined in a Code of Practice.
The recent trend to Mega-Bids by large Buy-Out Funds that even start to combine in consortia has created a situation where most sizeable companies that have bond issues outstanding can become targets of bids.
As most Buyouts are also expected to use a substantial amount of debt capital the outstanding bond issues can be subject to downgrading by the markets and rating agencies.
The regulators and should without delay look into this problem. Including the Holders of Debt in any Takeover Code would be a just solution and support confident in the functioning of the Public Bond Markets.
The Corp Fin Staff just released 18 revised CDIs on the filing of Schedules
13D and 13G. Thanks to the helpful redlines provided by Corp Fin, it looks
like...
11 hours ago