Shares in David Jones, which has 37 high-end department stores across Australia, spiked 15% Friday when it announced the Aus$1.65 billion (US$1.69 billion) offer from British private equity firm EB Private Equity.
The stock then slumped 10% Monday, leaving many investors out of pocket, after the retailer said EB Private Equity had withdrawn the bid as "recent publicity around its proposal has made it difficult to proceed".
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it had been closely monitoring the case and would investigate trading in David Jones' shares, as well as the circumstances surrounding disclosure of the bid.
"ASIC's priority is to ensure market integrity is maintained and that markets are fair, orderly and transparent and that, if there has been a breach of the law, those responsible are held to account," it said in a statement.
When it first publicly announced the offer Friday, David Jones noted the bid was unsolicited and came from "a non-incorporated UK entity, about which no usual public information is available".
It told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Monday that all attempts to learn more about its potential suitor had failed and it had no details about EB Private Equity's financial capacity or management.
Media attempts to learn more about the would-be corporate raider hit a similar brick wall, with EB Private Equity not appearing on the registry of Britain's Companies House and providing scant details on its corporate website.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the outfit appeared to be little more than a post office box in the northern English city of Newcastle, even though its website claims it is Luxembourg based.
Newcastle newspaper The Journal's website icnewcastle.co.uk carried excerpts from an interview with a man claiming to be its chairman, John Edgar, in which he said the deal was dropped as the firm preferred to remain low key.
"No one knows about us," he said. "We only operate overseas, not in England or even Europe, (but) in Africa and Australia."
In David Jones' statement to the ASX late Monday, the retailer said it was obliged to reveal the takeover bid under Australia's continuous disclosure laws as news of the offer was set to hit the market anyway through media reports.
Source: AFP
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