Takeovers Panel puts the brakes on Nicholas Bolton’s bid for property fund

Young IT entrepreneur Nicholas Bolton’s takeover bid for Multiplex Prime Property Fund has hit a roadblock, with the Takeovers Panel handing down an interim order preventing Bolton’s investment company buying any more shares in the fund for two months.

Brookfield Multiplex Capital Management, which operates the fund, applied for the order citing “serious deficiencies in the information provided to unitholders and the market” by Bolton’s investment vehicle, Australian Style Investments.

Brookfield has advised its unitholders not to respond to Bolton’s bid in any way.

Bolton owns just under 20% of the fund and has offered 0.3c per Multiplex security, which last traded at 0.2c per share. It would cost about $700,000 for Bolton to buy the shares he doesn’t already own.

But because the shares are partly paid – this means investors need to pay a total of 60c in order to keep their stakes – acquiring the company would leave Bolton with a requirement to stump up about $112 million.

However, if Bolton did get control of the company he would probably try to remove Brooksfield as manager and potentially attempt to recapitalise the company – removing the need to pay the installments on the shares.