Fed. Sec. L. Rep. P 96,483 the Indiana National Bank and Merchants National Bank & Trust Company of Indianapolis v. Mobil Oil Corporation

SPRECHER, Circuit Judge.

The primary issues on this appeal are whether, where sophisticated parties agree to trigger delivery of securities under a tender offer by a “public announcement” of a stated event rather than by actual notice, the law nevertheless imposes a notice requirement on the offeror and whether, assuming that a “public announcement” is an appropriate way to trigger certain events, a press release is the proper and normal means of making a public announcement.

I

In August 1974, defendant Mobil Oil Corporation (“Mobil”), made a cash tender offer for the securities (common and…