Reacting to a recent statement by key shareholder Mason Capital, Telus has said its proposed share conversion has received the support by two independent advisory firms.
One of the firms, however, has in the meantime withdrawn its report.
Telus claimed…
Reacting to a recent statement by key shareholder Mason Capital, Telus has said its proposed share conversion has received the support by two independent advisory firms.
One of the firms, however, has in the meantime withdrawn its report.
Telus claimed in a statement published yesterday that proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co. both separately recommended to their respective institutional clients to approve the transaction.
But, according to a Glass Lewis spokesperson, the firm removed its report following Mason Capital’s challenge of the share conversion plan.
“The filing of the dissident came after our initial publication, which caused us to remove our report so that we could analyze the dissident’s proposal,” the spokesperson said.
He noted that Glass Lewis would not have published the report initially, if it had known that a dissident would arise.
A republication is expected later this week.
Under Telus’ proposal, which requires approval by two thirds of holders of Telus common shares and non-voting shares, Telus intends to convert all non-voting shares into voting common shares on a one-to-one basis.
Mason Capital, which has accumulated around 19% of shares in Telus, has publicly announced its opposition to the proposal in its current form. The New York based fund argues that the share conversion should reflect the fact that voting shares have historically traded at a premium of around 4% to 5% over non-voting shares.
Telus quotes ISS in its statement as saying that the proposed conversion “offers shareholders meaningful economic opportunity through increased trading liquidity and a dual-listing [of the Common Shares] on [the] New York stock exchange, and has been ratified by a strong market response”.
The shareholder vote is scheduled to take place on 9 May at the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
