• Applicant alleges undisclosed associations between Placement recipients and a Joint Lead Manager
• Applicant claims Placement participants intend to depress share price to enable takeover
• Applicant seeks interim order to defer Share Purchase Plan and final order to cancel or amend Placement

Maronan Metals Limited (ASX: MMA), a mining company holding silver, lead, copper and gold deposits, has received an application to the Takeovers Panel regarding its recent $16 million institutional placement and upcoming $3 million share purchase plan. The applicant, Mr Ben Pauley, has submitted that some of the recipients of the placement and one of the joint lead managers, Veritas Securities Limited, are associated, and this has not been disclosed. The applicant also claims that the actions of some placees in previous placements support an inference that the placees under the current placement intend to depress the share price by selling their shares 'to make sure Maronan's share price is kept low enough for it to be taken over'. As a result of the alleged conduct and the gap between the placement and the close of the share purchase plan, the applicant believes there is 'almost no incentive for retail shareholders to participate in Maronan capital raisings', noting that the Maronan share price had fallen 6.5 cents below the share purchase plan price. The applicant seeks an interim order to defer the share purchase plan and a final order to 'cancel or amend' the placement. A sitting panel has not been appointed at this stage, and no decision has been made whether to conduct proceedings. The Takeovers Panel makes no comment on the merits of the application.