Austrian takeover commission probes Meinl Land buy

VIENNA, July 9 (Reuters) - Austria's takeover commission will investigate whether Gazit Globe's (GLOB.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) planned investment in developer Meinl European Land MELV.VI should trigger a mandatory offer to its shareholders, it said on Wednesday.

Tel Aviv-listed Gazit Globe and a unit of Citibank (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed in March to invest 800 million euros ($1.26 billion) in Meinl Land through a purchase of newly issued Meinl Land shares and through a bond convertible into Meinl Land shares.

Analysts estimate that the investors would hold around 30 percent of Meinl Land's shares after buying the new shares, and more than 40 percent if the entire bond was converted.

This would mean Gazit Globe had to offer to buy out Meinl Land shareholders under Austrian law. But as Meinl Land is incorporated on the British Channel island of Jersey, it is unclear if Austrian law applies in this case.

Meinl Land says that Austrian law does not apply. It faces a shareholder vote on the deal at an annual general meeting to be held in Jersey on July 16.

"The (takeover commission) will at first examine whether it has jurisdiction," the commission said in a statement. "If that is answered in the affirmative, it will investigate whether there is a duty to make a mandatory offer." (Reporting by Boris Groendahl; editing by Rory Channing)