CALGARY – The sale of Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment will enable parent Shaw Communications to double down on being a pure-play connectivity provider, the Calgary-based communications giant said Friday.
"For the shareholders and customers of Shaw, this is a significant milestone that positions Shaw as a leading pure-play connectivity company with an attractive growth profile, while allowing Shaw to participate in the upside potential resulting from the combination of Shaw Media and Corus," said Shaw CEO Brad Shaw, in a company news release. "Shaw will focus on delivering superior broadband communications to our consumer and business customers by investing and developing our best-in-class wireline, WiFi and, with our WIND acquisition, wireless infrastructure.”
The Corus/Shaw Media transaction saw Shaw receive some $1.85 billion in cash and 71,364,853 Corus Class B non-voting participating shares issued at $11.21 per share, which was based on a volume weighted average trading price on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the time of announcement on January 13, continued the release. As a result of the deal, and including the impact of Corus' prospectus and private placement financings, Shaw owns approximately 37% of Corus' total issued equity of Class A and Class B shares.
Shaw said that it has used the cash proceeds from the transaction to fully repay the bridge financing related to its acquisition of Wind Mobile, and that it has no current intention to acquire ownership or control over additional securities of Corus (other than pursuant to Corus' dividend reinvestment plan). The company added that it will evaluate its investment in Corus on a continuing basis and that it may decrease or increase its holdings subject to certain contractual restrictions agreed to with Corus.
"We are grateful to all shareholders of Corus for their resounding support of this transformative acquisition for Corus," added Shaw executive chair JR Shaw. "We believe their confidence in creating one of Canada's leading integrated media and content companies is the beginning of a new chapter that will allow all shareholders to participate in what we see as a very successful future for Corus, one that will support a vibrant Canadian broadcast system.”
