An outstanding competition condition (here, judicial review of a competition tribunal authorisation) does not prevent the court from ordering the convening of a scheme meeting at the first hearing, provided it cannot be said the scheme is so unlikely to be capable of approval that the meeting would be futile. A break fee slightly exceeding 1% of equity value is not a barrier to convening a scheme meeting where it is not payable simply because shareholders reject the scheme and is otherwise consistent with Takeovers Panel guidelines. An exclusivity period of approximately 14 months can be reasonable where the transaction involves significant regulatory complexity.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 26 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 26 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.