FIRB extends decision deadline on Cosette acquisition of Mayne Pharma
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The news: The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has unilaterally extended the statutory deadline to make a decision on Cosette Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition of Mayne Pharma to 17 November.
The numbers: At 2:54pm, shares in Mayne Pharma has lidted 1.7% to $4.78.
The context: Cosette has been trying to get out of the $7.40 per share deal for months. It told FIRB earlier this year that it would have to shutter Mayne’s manufacturing facility in Salisbury, South Australia on the grounds that it is not commercially viable.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ preliminary decision was to block the deal because, based on early FIRB advice, the loss of manufacturing capability and jobs from the closure of the facility would not be in the national interest.
Mayne Pharma has sought intervention from the Takeovers Panel and argued that Cosette is “leveraging knowledge of the likely discomfort FIRB has with the notion of job losses and loss of manufacturing capability in Australia” to tank the deal after “having exhausted other avenues to avoid completing the transaction”.
An attempt to terminate the deal was blocked by the NSW Supreme Court in mid-October, but Cosette has submitted its intention to commence appeal proceedings on or before 15 January 2026.
As it stands, the scheme of implementation deed that would give effect to the deal expires on 20 November.
The source: ASX
