Kern case adjourned

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 34

Kern case adjourned

NZPA-AAP Brisbane A bid by Queenslandbased developer, Kern Corp, to force a court trial over possible breaches of the Companies Code through purchases of its shares by offshore groups has been adjourned in the Supreme Court at Brisbane. Mr Richard Cooper, Q.C., for Kern, argued that the purchase of 34.5 per cent of the company’s shares by overseas registered companies linked to New Zealand entrepreneur, Sir Ron Brierley, broke the code’s substantial shareholder provisions. Among the companies involved are Industrial Equity and its N.Z. parent, Brierley Investments. But Mr Edwards Leonard, Q.C., representing the offshore group, said no common link had been established between the shSre purchases in Kern.

Judge Dowsett adjourned the matter and extended an existing order covering about 12 per cent of Kern shares now vested in the National Companies and Securities Commission (NCSC) after the companies told the court the holdings would not be sold. Judge Dowsett suggested BIL and associated companies post an sAustl million performance bond as Kern was not prepared to accept assurances the rest of the shares would not be sold. Mr Cooper said a sale could lead to another complicated paper trail of shares which would be difficult to unravel. Private negotiations are continuing over the remainder of the 34.5 per cent stake in Kern Corp vested in NCSC under an order issued in the Brisbane Supreme Court last week by Judge Ryan. ‘