NEW YORK – Vocal Telus shareholder Mason Capital Management LLC is taking issue with a research report written by a well-known Canadian telecom analyst.
The U.S. hedge fund distributed a public statement to Telus shareholders on Monday in response to “misleading statements” contained in a research report sent out last week by Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose. According to Mason, the report incorrectly states that Telus could remove the voting rights associated with Mason's voting shares of the telco in order to remedy a potential failure by Telus to meet the Canadian ownership requirements.
As Cartt.ca has reported, Mason is pushing Telus for details on how investors voted on its now-withdrawn shareholder proposal, and on its current foreign ownership levels.
Mason said that contrary to the Canaccord Genuity report, if Telus were in breach of the Canadian ownership requirements, it would not be in a position to single out Mason's voting shares to resolve its compliance problem.
“Telus has issued reservation numbers to Mason in respect of all of Mason's voting shares, and all such shares are registered in the official allocation of shares established by Telus under its foreign ownership control procedures for ownership by non-Canadians”, reads the statement. “Telus has thus formally recognized Mason's right to hold such shares as a non-Canadian.”
Mason added that if Telus is in violation of the Canadian ownership requirements that limit the percentage of voting shares owned by non-Canadians to 33.3%, it is because there are other non-Canadian holders of Telus voting shares who have not complied with Telus’ control procedures.
– Lesley Hunter
