VANCOUVER – Telus shareholder Mason Capital Management LLC has upped the ante in its quest to force the telco to disclose its current foreign ownership levels.
The U.S. hedge fund filed a petition with the Supreme Court of British Columbia this week seeking full disclosure of unredacted copies of the proxies submitted by Telus shareholders at its May 9 shareholder meeting. Mason said that Telus is obligated to disclose how shareholders voted on the now-withdrawn proposal to eliminate its dual-class share structure.
At that time, Telus said that it decided against the move in large part because of a campaign led by Mason which it accused of using empty voting trading tactics designed to defeat the plan. Empty voting is buying shares to vote them while simultaneously short selling shares in the same company, a practice that Telus described as “troubling”.
Mason acknowledged that it received copies of the proxies, but the redactions “obscured all information relating to the Proposed Arrangement so it is not possible to determine how holders of the Voting Shares had voted in respect of the Proposed Arrangement.”
“The level of support for the Proposed Arrangement from holders of Voting Shares is directly relevant in determining the likelihood of success of a future proposal by Telus to effect a one-for-one share conversion and could materially affect Mason’s decision as to whether to increase or decrease its substantial position in Telus’ securities”, reads the court filing.
The petition also reveals that Mason has increased its stake in Telus from 18.7% to 19.98% of the company’s voting shares.
When contacted by Cartt.ca, a Telus spokesperson called the petition “just another tactic by Mason to try to advance their empty voting strategy in the interests of their own short-term profits at the expense of our other shareholders”.
“We will oppose this filing”, continues the spokesperson's emailed response. “As this matter is before the courts we cannot comment further.”
– Lesley Hunter
