Healthcare Partners seeks Court ruling

Healthcare Partners seeks Court ruling

Healthcare Partners today filed its statement of defence with the High Court in its on-going endeavour to obtain clarity on the amount it should reimburse Abano for its partial take-over bid for the company.

“We are ready and willing to pay, but only to pay what Abano is entitled in law to receive,” said Peter Hutson on behalf of Healthcare Partners today.

“Abano has been unwilling to provide adequate detail of its claim of over $1m. Current precedent is that Abano is not entitled to claim for costs of defending the takeover, but rather only those costs for information needed by shareholders to make an informed decision on an offer.

“Healthcare Partners accepts, and has always accepted, that Abano can recover its reasonable lawful costs and Healthcare Partners is ready and able to pay those costs.

“We are sure people understand that Healthcare Partners should not pay an invoice that gives insufficient detail on the reasonableness or appropriateness of the sum requested. Our view is that Abano has taken the approach of charging Healthcare Partners for every dollar it has incurred in relation to the recent partial take-over offer regardless of the nature or reasonableness of those costs.

“To date, Abano has not provided sufficient information to allow Healthcare Partners to properly assess its claim, despite repeated requests to do so. The Court will provide us with clarity.

“Also, given the Court will be discussing the appropriateness of costs, we have decided to also counterclaim the legality of Abano’s action of withholding our dividend payment. We don’t believe they acted legally and would like that matter clarified by the Court,” confirmed Peter Hutson.

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