Unacceptable statements
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Parties to an offer and their advisers must take care not to make statements which, while not factually inaccurate, may be misleading or may create uncertainty.
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In particular, an offeror must not make a statement to the effect that it may improve its offer, or that it may make a change to the structure, conditionality or the non-financial terms of its offer, without committing itself to doing so and specifying the improvement or change.
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In the case of any doubt as to the application of this Rule to a proposed statement, parties to an offer and their advisers should consult the Panel.
NOTE ON RULE 19.3
Statements of support
An offeror or the offeree company must not make statements about the level of support from shareholders or other persons unless their up-to-date intentions have been clearly stated to the offeror or the offeree company (as appropriate) or to their respective advisers. The Panel will require any such statement to be verified to its satisfaction. This will normally include the shareholder or other person confirming its support in writing to the relevant party to the offer or its adviser and that confirmation being provided to the Panel. Such confirmation will then be treated as a letter of intent. The Panel will not require separate verification by an offeror where the information required by Note 3 on Rule 2.10 is included in an announcement of an offer or possible offer which is published no later than 12 noon on the business day following the date on which the letter of intent is procured.