8BHAcquisitions of shares

8BH Acquisitions of shares

If: (a) a person, or 2 or more persons under an arrangement, acquire shares in a company; and (b) the acquisition has the result, in relation to a Telstra successor company, that: (i) an unacceptable foreign‑ownership situation comes into existence in relation to the Telstra successor company; or (ii) if an unacceptable foreign‑ownership situation already exists in relation to the Telstra successor company because there is a group of foreign persons who hold, in total, a particular type of stake in the Telstra successor company of more than 35%—there is an increase in the total of any type of stake held by any group of foreign persons in the Telstra successor company; or (iii) if an unacceptable foreign‑ownership situation already exists in relation to the Telstra successor company because there is or are one or more foreign persons each of whom holds a particular type of stake in the Telstra successor company of more than 5%—there is an increase in any type of stake held by any of those foreign persons; and (c) the person or persons mentioned in paragraph (a) knew, or were reckless as to whether, the acquisition would have that result; the person or persons mentioned in paragraph (a) commit an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding 400 penalty units.

Note: A person’s stake is calculated on the assumption that the only shares in a Telstra successor company are shares held by persons other than the Commonwealth—see clause 12 of the Schedule.