TPG Investor Held ‘Over A Barrel’
Day four of the case between Vodafone and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) over the telco’s proposed merger with TPG began on Friday with the final minutes of David Teoh’s cross-examination by Michael Hodge QC, counsel for the ACCC.
The ACCC has tried to paint a picture that TPG’s network rollout plans were ad-hoc management decisions, conjured from the mind of its reclusive CEO Teoh.
Once Teoh, pictured, vacated the witness box, the MD of Washington H. Soul Pattinson, Todd Barlow was quizzed by Hodge over his company’s involvement in a A$400 million capital raise that funded a substantial portion of the $1.26 billion purchase of 700MHz spectrum.
Under questioning, Barlow said that the “ins and outs” of the business case were not important at the time because it was important to “be in the game”.
When asked by Justice Middleton, the judge presiding over the case, if he had complaints about the process, Barlow said: “We were a bit over a barrel”.