Activist investor Myerson vows to clear his name after ban

Activist investor Brian Myerson has threatened to take his case to the European Court of Justice after the Takeover Panel sensationally banned him from engaging in merger-related business for three years.

Myerson, who made his name as the co-founder of Active Value in the 1990s, branded the Panel’s decision ‘wholly wrong and misguided.’

He, along with two other investors, Brian Padgett and Daniel Posen, were found to have deliberately concealed the purchase of 6.7 million shares in Principle Capital Investment Trust, the vehicle originally launched by Myerson in 2005.

However in a strong rebuttal of the Takeover Panel’s findings, he said: ‘For the Panel to have formed any adverse view of my conduct raises serious questions, given that I did not break the Takeover Code in any way and I totally refute any suggestion that I did. 

‘I actually made a bid for the company that was 10% higher than would have been required under a mandatory rule 9 bid. In a career spanning more than 20 years of investor activism I have never once attracted the criticism of any regulator. I should not have been criticised in a case where all shareholders have ended up significantly better off.’

Myerson also slammed the Panel’s methods, accusing it of making clandestine recordings and was critical of the behaviour of key witnesses. 

‘The way the Panel conducted its investigation and the methods it adopted need to be investigated. There were secret recordings made, which were denied and later admitted to,’ he said. ‘A key witness was warned that his FSA authorisation was in jeopardy, and then changed his evidence. Important documents, perhaps vital to my defence, were destroyed by the Panel during the course of its investigation in breach of all basic principles.’

‘I am now examining what legal options are open to me, including a challenge in the European Courts and whether or not the Panel exceeded its authority in acting as it did. I will continue to fight and defend myself and my reputation by all available means.’