Final bids for Virgin Australia were lodged on Monday by investment firm Bain Capital and private equity investor Cyrus Capital Partners, and the struggling airline’s administrators are giving themselves a week to pick a winner.
Recent temporary measures by the government making it harder to bring shareholder class actions should be part of permanent reform, ASX has said, and enforcement of Australia’s continuous disclosure rules should rest with the share market operator and ASIC.
The competition cop has given its blessing to Australian Finance Group’s $120 million acquisition of rival Connective Group, after raising concerns the deal could squeeze smaller players out of the mortgage aggregator market.
The competition regulator has raised concerns about Google’s planned acquisition of fitness device company Fitbit, saying the $3 billion tie-up could further cement the dominance of the search engine giant in online advertising.
Labour hire company WorkPac has asked the High Court to weigh in on a decision that grants entitlements to casual workers with regular shifts, a ruling it says could have a “devastating impact” on companies if allowed to stand.
Mayfair 101 has agreed to cease using the brand name Mayfair Platinum to settle a trade mark dispute brought by ASX-listed fund manager Platinum Asset Management.
While some judges have suggested a deed of company arrangement can be terminated at the comparatively low threshold that a liquidator may be “potentially” successful in litigating a claim, this is clearly not the test after a recent Full Federal Court ruling that affirms the high standard to be met by any challenge to a DOCA, where the deed compromises a commercial dispute, writes Baker McKenzies’ David Walter, Maria O’Brien and Ian Innes.
Investment group Mayfair 101 has denied claims by ASIC that it has engaged in misleading or deceptive advertising of its Platinum products, saying in a response to the regulator’s case the products were aimed at sophisticated investors who were told of the risks.
Judges should be given the power to make class closure orders again, defence law firms have told the latest class action inquiry, which comes on the heels of a landmark appeals court ruling that there is no statutory authority to keep unregistered class members out of a group proceeding.
A judge has rejected calls by mining tool company Globaltech and driller Boart Longyear to disqualify himself from hearing a patent infringement case against them, despite ruling in an earlier proceeding that the patent was valid and that Globaltech had infringed it.