LAW – AUSTRALIA – CASES

Nine gets claws into Fairfax as Catalano walks

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 & 24 : 28-Nov-18

The Federal Court’s Justice Jacqueline Gleeson has approved the $4bn merger between Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media. Former Domain CEO Antony Catalano has indicated that he is unlikely to appeal the decision, although he maintains that the deal undervalues Fairfax. Catalano had sought to challenge the merger with the financial backing of businessman Nick Bolton. Fairfax shares will be delisted on 29 November.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, 2GB, 3AW SOUTHERN CROSS RADIO PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Bolton backs Cat’s bid to halt Fairfax deal

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 27-Nov-18

Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media will seek final approval by the Federal Court for their proposed merger on 27 November. It has been revealed that businessman Nick Bolton is one of the financial backers of a legal challenge to the merger that has been launched by former Domain CEO Antony Catalano. Bolton has a 49 per cent stake in Aurora Funds Management, which will join Catalano in his bid to block the deal. More than 81 per cent of Fairfax shareholders had voted in favour of the merger.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AURORA FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, BRISCONNECTIONS UNIT TRUSTS, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, AUSTRALIAN STYLE INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, THIESS JOHN HOLLAND, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, 2GB, 3AW SOUTHERN CROSS RADIO PTY LTD

Fairfax or Ten: who’s the BOSS?

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 27 : 26-Nov-18

Fairfax Media is taking legal action against the Ten Network over the latter’s recently-launched 10 BOSS multi-channel. Fairfax claims that it breaches the trademark of "BOSS" magazine, which is a monthly insert of "The Australian Financial Review". One intellectual property lawyer suggests that the action against Ten may be prompted by a desire by Nine Entertainment to use the BOSS brand across a wider range of media outlets following its merger with Fairfax.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Mitchell gets ready to return ASIC tennis deal serve

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Original article by Ben Butler, John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 2 : 22-Nov-18

Free TV Australia chairman Harold Mitchell has stepped down in the wake of legal action arising from his former role as a director of Tennis Australia. He has described the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s allegations as false and has vowed to "vigorously defend" the legal action. ASIC alleges that Mitchell withheld information from TA’s board about potential bids for tennis broadcasting rights. The rights were awarded to the Seven Network, which has disputed ASIC’s claim that it had received confidential information from Mitchell about rival bids.

CORPORATES
FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, IMG AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Employer bid to decouple union

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Age – Page: 15 : 21-Nov-18

A legal challenge to the merger between the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia will commence in the Federal Court on 21 November. The Australian Mines & Metals Association is seeking to have the merger declared invalid on the grounds that the two unions were subject to "quasi-criminal" legal proceedings when the merger was approved.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION

Mitchell under pressure to quit Free TV after ASIC court action

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Nov-18

Free TV Australia has declined to comment on the future of chairman Harold Mitchell, amid speculation that he may be forced to step down after the Australian Securities & Investments Commission launched legal action against him. ASIC’s civil action concerns Mitchell’s role as a former director of Tennis Australia, where he is alleged to have failed to advise the board that it was likely to secure more money if its TV broadcasting rights were put out to a competitive tender. Sources have suggested that Mitchell’s position at the TV industry lobby group may be untenable.

CORPORATES
FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Rookie spy foiled terrorists

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Original article by Tessa Akerman, Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 15-Nov-18

Victoria’s Court of Appeal has lifted a suppression order that had prevented the media from reporting on the conviction of three Muslim men on terrorism charges. A jury took seven day to find Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullah Chaarani and Hamza Abbas guilty over a plan to launch a terrorism attack in the Melbourne CBD at Christmas in 2016. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s Director-General of Security, Duncan Lewis, has also revealed that the terrorism plot had been detected due to the work of a recent ASIO recruit.

CORPORATES
COURT OF APPEAL (VICTORIA), AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Rio execs say good faith in assets call

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Original article by Ben Butler
The Australian – Page: 22 : 14-Nov-18

Rio Tinto and former executives Tom Albanese and Guy Elliott have denied any wrongdoing over the 2013 write-down of its coking coal assets in Mozambique. Albanese and Elliott have argued that they had acted in good faith and therefore should be excused from any liability. Both the Australian Securities & Investments Commission and the US Securities & Exchange Commission have launched legal action over the write-down.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

ABCC cracks down on CFMEU right of entry

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 12-Nov-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission is cracking down on Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union officials who try to exploit "right of entry" loopholes. One such official, Brendan Murphy, is facing thousands of dollars in fines after the Federal Court found that he had gained access to a construction site at a Victorian school by signing its guest registry. He refused to show his right of entry permit to the contractor’s site manager, and then stated that he was going to shut the site down over safety concerns. Federal Court Justice Debbie Mortimer said Murphy’s safety concerns were "contrived", and that he did not care about right of entry laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Maximum penalty call over blockade

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Original article by Charlie Peel
The Australian – Page: 2 : 24-Oct-18

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union faces a fine of up to $33,000 for each break of workplace laws arising from the blockading of Brisbane building sites in 2012. CFMMEU official Michael Ravbar in turn could be fined up to $6,600 for each breach. The Australian Building & Construction Commission has urged the Federal Court to impose the maximum penalty on Ravbar, while it is also seeking to have him banned from entering workplaces.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, UNIVERSAL CRANES PTY LTD