Guide to Analysing Companies

O
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OVER THE COUNTER
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Pp
Panel on Takeovers and Mergers
Commonly known as the Takeover Panel, a body in the UK that
ensures fair play for shareholders in mergers and acquisi-
tions of companies whose shares are publicly traded. Al-
though supported by statutory bodies such as the Competition
Commission and the Office of Fair Trading, the Takeover Panel
still operates under a voluntary code of conduct. The threat of
action by government agencies or the stock exchange is
enough to ensure that its word is as good as law.
The panel was first set up in 1968 after a spate of takeovers
in which acquiring companies rode roughshod over the rights
of ordinary shareholders. Since then it has presided over more
than 7,000 bids and about half as many deals which, in the
event, were never announced.
Par
The nominal or face value of a security. In the case of
stocks and shares, this is almost always way below their
market value. A security is at par when it is trading at its face
value.
Parallel financing
When two aid donors commit themselves to financing different
parts of the same project. The donors co-ordinate the financing
between them in parallel.
Parallel market
A market in a particular financial instrument that develops
outside the standard channels for such a market. An example is
the market for american depositary receipts (adrs)
which developed as an easy way for US institutions to invest in
the shares of overseas companies. Dollar-denominated adrs
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trade in parallel (albeit sometimes in different time zones) with
the underlying shares of the company. Sometimes there may
even be scope for arbitrage between the two.
Partly paid
Shares on which some of the capital is still uncalled; that is,
shareholders have yet to be asked to pay all that is due from
them. Partly paid shares are unpopular when they give the
company the right to call for the unpaid part at its discretion,