Private hearing for Montana investigation

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 19th March 2001

The investigation into Lion's (NZSE: LNN) raid on Montana (NZSE: MON) earlier this year is likely to be held in private.

The committee investigating the alleged breach of NZSE rules says it has met with counsel for the four parties involved in the dispute - Montana, Lion Nathan, Allied Domecq and Credit Suisse First Boston - to discuss procedural matters for the hearing.

It says it has considered whether the hearing should be in public but believes it should be in private.

The committee has given several reasons for its recommendation, including the fact that the transactions are deals between private investors "whose anonymity would be lost if a public hearing were held".

It also says the committee is not a statutory body, and is not reviewing the Market Surveillance Panel's previous waiver decision or looking at NZSE rules - matters, it says, which may have raised wider public issues.

The committee is charged with deciding whether Lion Nathan breached NZSE rules by buying shares in Montana before it was allowed to.

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