Editing Shareholder rights plan (section)

==== United Kingdom ====
In the United Kingdom, poison pills are not allowed under the [[Takeover Panel]] rules. The rights of public shareholders are protected by the Panel on a case-by-case, principles-based regulatory regime. Raids have helped bidders win targets such as [[BAA Limited|BAA]] plc and [[AWG plc]] when other bidders were considering emerging at higher prices. If these companies had poison pills, they could have prevented the raids by threatening to dilute the positions of their hostile suitors if they exceeded the statutory levels (often 10% of the outstanding shares) in the rights plan. The [[London Stock Exchange]] itself is another example of a company that has seen significant stakebuilding by a hostile suitor, in this case the [[NASDAQ]]. The LSE's ultimate fate is currently up in the air, but NASDAQ's stake is sufficiently large that it is essentially impossible for a third party bidder to make a successful offer to acquire the LSE.