Over the last few months, the Italian Government and market regulator (Consob) have amended the Italian legislation on public tender offers. By decree, published 22 October, the Government has intervened again in an effort to introduce more flexibility to the Italian financial legal framework.
The most fundamental change is the reintroduction (effective 1 July 2010) of the so-called ‘passivity rule’ to the Italian legal landscape. This rule is designed to forbid directors of Italian listed companies subject to a takeover from taking any action during the offer period which may frustrate the bid, unless such action was previously approved by the target company shareholders.
