Shark Repellent

Entry in progress—B.P.
 
The Free Dictionary
Noun 1. shark repellent - a measure undertaken by a corporation to discourage unwanted takeover attempts
 
Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
shark repellent noun
Definition of SHARK REPELLENT
: any of various measures that a company uses to fend off unwanted takeover attempts
First Known Use of SHARK REPELLENT
1977
   
Investopedia
What Does Shark Repellent Mean?
Slang term for any one of a number of measures taken by a company to fend off an unwanted or hostile takeover attempt. In many cases, a company will make special amendments to its charter or bylaws that become active only when a takeover attempt is announced or presented to shareholders with the goal of making the takeover less attractive or profitable to the acquisitive firm.
 
Also known as a “porcupine provision”.
 
Google News Archive
25 October 1977, Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review, ‘Takeovers spawn exotic glossary,” pg. 17, col. 3:
NEW YORK (AP)—A good dose of Shark Repellent and a White Knight or two can provide plenty of hassle for a Saturday Night Special in takeover territory these days.
 
With cash tender offers approaching record levels, the trend to merge has spawned its own exotic glossary, the Conference Board reports in a study released Monday.
 
Some terms defined by the nonprofit business research organization:
 
—Shark Repellent: A takeover statute enacted by a state that imposes strict notification and disclosure requirements on originators of tender offers for companies incorporated or transacting business within its boundaries.
 
Google News Archive
15 March 1979, Pittsburgh (PA) Press, “How Firm Can Fight Off Merger Shark” by Edwin Darby, pg. B10, col. 1:
Shark repellent. It’s a term lawyers and corporate chief executives know very well these days.
 
A shark repellent is a device a company may use to fend off a tender offer, an attempt by one corporation to gobble up another.
 
High on the list of shark repellents are lawsuits, charges that the raiding company has violated the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission or special state laws or that the merger would violate the antitrust laws.
   
25 October 1977, New York (NY) Times, “So Sleeping Beauty Was Rescued By White Knight From Bear Hug” by Robert J. Cole, pg. 73:
In the melodramatic idiom of Wall Street, the United Technologies Corporation tried a few months ago to clamp a bear hug around the Babcock & Wilcox Company, but J. Ray McDermott & Company, after initial resistance, eventually came forward as the White Knight and walked off with Sleeping Beauty.
(...)
“Shark repellent” is a state takeover law or any measure designed to frustrate a takeover.