Perennial trio lose 'loss of control’ bid
Three of the original directors of fund manager, Perennial have lost their bid to extract a change of control fee resulting from Australian Wealth Management’s 2008 merger with Perennial parent IOOF.
The action, disputing around $35 million, was mounted by Perennial’s Mike Crivelli, John Murray and Anthony Patterson who first pursued the matter in the NSW Supreme Court and, when that failed in 2011, opted to pursue the matter in the Court of Appeal.
A three-person bench of the Court of Appeal rejected their submission on Friday at the same time as ordering them to pay costs to IOOF.
The three Perennial executives had originally claimed the change of control clause had been triggered as a result of IOOF’s 2008 merger with Australian Wealth Management which resulted in AWM controlling around 70 per cent of IOOF.
The executives said AWM shareholders who voted for the merger were acting in concert to control the make-up of IOOF’s board.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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