The UK Takeover Panel publishes a response statement following its consultation on the changes that are going to be made to the Takeover Code

Overview The Takeover Panel has published a response statement, RS 2020/1, following its consultation (PCP 2020/1) on the Takeover Code provisions relating to conditions to an offer, particularly those relating to regulatory / merger control clearance, and the offer timetable. The changes will come into force on Monday 5 July 2021 and will apply to all firm offers which are announced (Rule 2.7 announcement) on or after that date. Firm offers announced prior to that date (or in competition with an offer announced prior to that date) will continue to be subject to the existing Rules. There were three themes in the consultation: Regulatory clearances – removing the historical, special status for EU merger clearance and UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) clearance and re-stating