Canadian incumbent Telus has again rejected allegations from rival operator Globalive regarding Telus’ foreign ownership levels.
In June, Globalive called on the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to undertake a review…
Canadian incumbent Telus has again rejected allegations from rival operator Globalive regarding Telus’ foreign ownership levels.
In June, Globalive called on the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to undertake a review of Telus’s ownership structure. It cited reports from financial services firm Broadridge, saying those suggested the telco might be over Canada’s 33.3% foreign ownership limit.
In a statement, responding to the CRTC, Telus now said that only 32.59% of its voting shares are held by non-Canadians.
Telus implied data used by Globalive had not been accurate and called on the CRTC to dismiss the complaint of the alternative operator.
Broadridge does not take into account short trading and other factors that resulted in votes being counted twice, Telus argued, as a result of which the financial services firm counted 214 million Telus voting shares when there are only 175 million in existence.
Telus said that Broadridge told them that the data does not accurately portray Telus’ foreign ownership structure and should not be used for that purpose.
The Canadian incumbent also took aim at its activist investor Mason Capital in the statement. Mason had also cited the Broadridge reports as the basis for its allegations, which are similar to those raised by Globalive. Earlier this month the New York-based hedge fund filed a court petition in an attempt to force Telus to disclose its foreign ownership levels.
Telus CFO Robert McFarlane said: “Telus has a reliable foreign ownership monitoring and control process involving a reservation and declaration system for non-Canadian shareholders purchasing our voting shares. That process has proven effective in maintaining our foreign ownership levels under the threshold allowed despite Mason’s recent purchase of almost 20% of Telus voting shares”.
Telus added that its foreign-ownership levels are administered through third party transfer agent Computershare. The agent processes the applications from non-Canadians interested in purchasing Telus shares, maintains Telus’ shareholder registry, and obtains investor residency declarations from participating institutions.
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