Takeovers Panel appointments announced

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel today announced the following appointments to the Takeovers Panel:

• David Jones, currently the deputy chair of the Panel, as chair from 8 March 2007 to 7 March 2011. David Jones will replace the inaugural chair John King.
• Current member Alastair Lawrence as the deputy chair of the Panel from 8 March 2007 to 24 September 2008 to replace David Jones.

Three new members have also been appointed for five year terms:

• John Waller has in-depth commercial experience due to his role leading the PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Division. He is also a member of the PwC New Zealand board.
• Keith Taylor has considerable experience gained over many years in the corporate world, including his time as chief executive with Tower.
• Pip Greenwood a partner at Russell McVeagh specialises in securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, takeovers and general corporate advisory work. She is a member of the firm’s board of management.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank John King for his major contribution to New Zealand’s business regulatory environment and in particular for his dedication to the development and implementation of the law covering takeovers,” Lianne Dalziel said.

“I would also like congratulate David Jones and Alastair Lawrence on their upcoming appointments as chair and deputy chair, and welcome the three new members of the Panel.”

Background information on the Takeovers Panel

The Panel is established by the Takeovers Act 1993 and is an independent Crown entity under the Crown Entities Act 2004. The Panel is responsible for carrying out enforcement functions under the Act and administering the Takeovers Code. Under section 6 of the Act the Panel consists of between five and eleven members appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the responsible Minister.

For further information on the Panel refer www.takeovers.govt.nz

Short Biographies on the Appointees

David Jones
David Jones is the current deputy chair of the Panel. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court admitted in 1978, and senior partner of law firm, Jones Young, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, and corporate and commercial law. He has been a member of the Panel from its inception as an advisory group in 1991. As deputy chair since 2001, he has often be called upon to chair the Panel, including chairing a number of significant enforcement matters. Mr Jones is a member of the Institute of Directors of New Zealand.

Alastair Lawrence
Alastair Lawrence is an Auckland-based investment banker and Principal of Antipodes, a private investment bank which provides specialist mergers and acquisitions advice in addition to private equity for emerging New Zealand companies. He is a director of Landcare Research, and a number of private companies. Mr Lawrence has extensive financial and strategic knowledge of a number of industry sectors within the commercial marketplace. He also has substantial experience in debt and equity markets.

Keith Taylor
Mr Taylor has over 20 years experience of the business world having been the chief executive, chief financial officer and senior executive of the publicly listed company Tower. He has been involved in takeovers of listed companies representing the acquirer, or the target or as a significant shareholder. Having recently moved into consulting he is working for both the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Fijian Government on prudential supervision criteria for insurance companies. He was appointed to the board of the Earthquake Commission, a Crown agent, earlier this year.

John Waller
For 20 years Mr Waller has been a partner in Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) Zealand firm. He is a member of the New Zealand board and leads the PwC advisory division, which has approximately 280 partners and staff. He has considerable experience in the New Zealand corporate sector having advised, worked with and restructured a number of the largest corporates as well as smaller companies. In addition, he has been a government-appointed statutory manager, a receiver in a number of public companies and acted as an independent financial advisor.

Philippa (Pip) Greenwood
Ms Greenwood is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court admitted in 1998. She is a corporate partner at Russell McVeagh having previously been a partner at Buddle Findlay and working offshore for Linklaters & Paines in their London and New York offices. Her career was initially focused on the banking and financial areas, however, on her return to New Zealand in 1997 she moved into the securities area. Her core expertise is now as a corporate adviser for firms such as Lion Nathan, Telecom, Auckland International Airport, Fairfax, Kiwi Income Property Trust and CanWest MediaWorks. A significant part of that work involves providing advice to clients on the operation of the Takeovers Code, securities law, stock exchange compliance issues and large corporate transactions.