(A) As used in this section:

1. (1) "Control bid" means the purchase of, or offer to purchase, from a resident of this state, by tender offer, invitation for tenders, or otherwise, any equity security of a natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or any equity security of a holding company controlling such a company, if, after that purchase, the offeror would be directly or indirectly the beneficial owner of more than ten per cent of any class of the issued and outstanding equity securities of the subject natural gas company or subject holding company. "Control bid" excludes any of the following:

   1. (a) A bid made by a dealer for the dealer's own account in the ordinary course of the business of buying and selling securities;
   2. (b) An offer to acquire any equity security solely in exchange for any other security, or the acquisition of any equity security pursuant to an offer, for the sole account of the offeror, in good faith and not for the purpose of avoiding the provisions of this section, and not involving any public offering of the other security within the meaning of Section 4 of Title I of the "Securities Act of 1933," 48 Stat. 77, 15 U.S.C.A. 77d(2), as amended;
   3. (c) Pursuant to a merger, consolidation, combination, majority share acquisition, or other transaction, the acquisition of any equity security of a natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or any equity security of a holding company controlling such a company, if, prior to the date upon which the offeror becomes the owner of more than ten per cent of any class of the issued and outstanding equity securities of the subject natural gas company or holding company, the directors of the subject natural gas company or subject holding company had approved the acquisition.
2. (2) "Dealer" has the same meaning as in section 1707.01 of the Revised Code.
3. (3) "Equity security" means any share or similar security, or any security convertible into any such security, or carrying any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any such security, or any such warrant or right, or any other security that, for the protection of security holders, is deemed an equity security by the public utilities commission.
4. (4) "Offeror" means a person that makes, or in any way participates or aids in making, a control bid. "Offeror" includes persons acting jointly or in concert in exercising, or that intend to exercise jointly or in concert, any voting rights attached to the securities for which the control bid is made, but excludes a subject natural gas company in this state that is a public utility under section 4905.02 of the Revised Code or a subject holding company controlling such a company when making a control bid for its own securities.