Australia: Coopers invited again to court, this time by an investment company

ARGO Investments would take into consideration stepping into the legal fray surrounding Coopers if current legal actions against the South Australian brewer were successful according to the Advertiser report of 25 October. The listed investment company which is based in Adelaide was one of a handful of shareholders that sold shares back to Coopers in a 2003 share buyback.

ARGO, which is a current and a former shareholder, launched legal actions against Coopers, arguing it misled shareholders by leading them to believe that all information relevant to the buyback was disclosed. It will be argued that because multinational brewer Lion Nathan, which has a A$352 million hostile bid for Coopers on the table, was not informed of the buyback at the time, the A$45.01 per share valuation was too low.

Argo Investments sold its 10,000-share stake in 2003 for A$450,100. It would be worth A$2.15 million more at the A$260 a share being offered by Lion as part of its takeover bid. After the company's annual meeting yesterday, Argo managing director Rob Patterson said it would wait until the current litigation was finished.