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Cable television broadcasting industry

Rogers Faces Deadline to Unveil Takeover Bid for Maclean Hunter

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Rogers Communications Inc. has been given a February 18 deadline to unveil its planned takeover bid for Maclean Hunter Ltd. if it doesn't want its target to sell a contentious block of shares to someone else. Maclean Hunter has stated that it will not dispose of 36.3 million shares it owns in itself without giving at least two business days' notice, provided Rogers makes its bid by the specified deadline. The Ontario Securities Commission has also issued orders exempting Rogers from buying the shares and permitting it to exclude them from any vote of minority shareholders.

Key Takeaways:

  • The deadline for Rogers to unveil its takeover bid for Maclean Hunter is February 18.
  • Maclean Hunter will not sell its 36.3 million shares without giving Rogers at least two business days' notice.
  • Rogers has been granted exemptions by the Ontario Securities Commission to exclude the shares from the bid and any vote of minority shareholders.
  • Rogers' chief financial officer, Graham Savage, has not confirmed whether the company will make a bid by the deadline.
  • Analysts are hoping for a bid to be unveiled at Rogers' conference for analysts and institutional investors, which is scheduled to take place in Toronto.
  • Rogers wants to exclude the shares to cut costs and prevent Maclean Hunter from using them to block the takeover.
  • The supposed offer from Rogers to buy 83% of Maclean Hunter was dismissed as a false alarm by the company's executives.

Statistics:

  • 36.3 million shares that Maclean Hunter owns in itself that it will not sell without giving Rogers at least two business days' notice.
  • 5 p.m. on February 18 is the deadline for Rogers to make its bid.
  • 3.4 million shares of Maclean Hunter that were traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday.
  • 8% of Maclean Hunter's shares that Rogers already owns.
  • $17 was the price of Maclean Hunter's shares at which they closed on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday.
  • 30 cents was the amount below the minimum price that Rogers appeared ready to offer.
  • $2 billion was the supposed value of the offer that Rogers was reported to be making.

Sources:

  • The Globe and Mail, February 18
  • Bloomberg news wire
  • Television Digest, a weekly newsletter based in Washington, D.C.
  • Baseline Inc., a wire service for U.S. entertainment publications
  • Ontario Securities Commission press releases

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