The board of Canadian telco Rogers Communications has authorised the repurchase of C$1.5bn (US$1.5bn) of its class B non-voting shares.
The company announced yesterday that the Toronto Stock Exchange had accepted a notice by Rogers to renew its normal…
The board of Canadian telco Rogers Communications has authorised the repurchase of C$1.5bn (US$1.5bn) of its class B non-voting shares.
The company announced yesterday that the Toronto Stock Exchange had accepted a notice by Rogers to renew its normal course issuer bid (NCIB) for these shares for a further year.
Rogers said that it had acquired over 37 million shares at an average price of approximately C$35.37 a share under its previous NCIB, which expires on 21 February. This equates to a total of over C$1.3bn (US$1.3bn).
Rogers will now be able to purchase almost 10% of its class B stock between 22 February 2011 and 21 February 2012. This amount could be purchased under the NCIB for an aggregate purchase price of C$1.5bn.
The company said that its board had authorised such repurchases because it believed that it was an appropriate use of funds when the value of the class B shares exceeded the trading price.
It said: “Such purchases would provide additional liquidity to shareholders and benefit the remaining shareholders by increasing the value of their equity interest in Rogers.”
The news came on the same day that Rogers released its fourth quarter 2010 results. These showed that operating revenue for the quarter was C$3.2bn (US$3.3bn), up 3% on the same period from 2009.
