UK: Takeover Panel publishes annual report

The Takeover Panel published its 2009/10 annual report earlier this week: see here (pdf). Amongst the activities reported is the following concerning financial reform at the European level:

... the Panel’s focus over the last year has been the proposal for a Regulation to establish a European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA”), which forms part of the EU’s response to the financial crisis of late 2008. As originally drafted, the Regulation included the Takeovers Directive within the scope of ESMA’s powers, enabling it, potentially, to set Europe-wide standards for regulating bids and even to intervene in individual offers. The Panel has argued that the inclusion of takeover regulation within a regime of harmonised European securities regulation would be inappropriate, not least because takeover regulation must reflect company law, which still varies considerably between Member States. The Executive has devoted considerable efforts to making representations to this effect in Brussels and with its counterparts in other Member States. While negotiations continue between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, amendments adopted by the Parliament on 7 July exclude the Takeovers Directive from the scope of ESMA’s powers and it is hoped that, when it is finally established, ESMA will not compromise the existing framework of takeover regulation applied by the Panel".