Will Cosette keep on losing?

In normal circumstances Dexus should be at the top of any list compiling the most embarrassing court losses of the year. 

The $30 million in legal fees the property group has to cough up for its botched attempt to sell a small shareholding in Australia Pacific Airports Corporation, the owner of Melbourne and Launceston airports, is likely the tip of the iceberg for more damages claims. It is a comprehensive failure of strategy and execution that is hard to top.

But is there an argument to be made that Cosette Pharmaceuticals' attempts to extricate itself from an ill-fated takeover of Mayne Pharma could be worse? It's a big call; as Rampart's Ivor Ries reported in May, the losses from Dexus' breach could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. But the sheer number of missteps and quantum of potential damages definitely put Cosette in the conversation. 

To recap: Cosette is the New Jersey drugmaker which agreed to pay $672 million for Adelaide-based Mayne back in February 2025 after making a takeover bid priced at $7.40 a share. Cosette is jointly controlled by New York private equity firm Avista Capital Partners and US$146 billion private markets giant Hamilton Lane. It should have been a straightforward deal given the bid was pitched at a 37 per cent premium to the closing share price before the deal was announced. It turned out to be anything but.