Plantro Ltd. (“
Plantro”), today announced an offer
to acquire up to 2,777,342 Class A Limited Voting Shares (the
“
Class A Shares”) in the capital of Information
Services Corporation (TSX: ISC) (“
ISC” or the
“
Company”), (the “
Tender Offer”)
at a price of $27.25 per Class A Share, payable in cash (the
“
Tender Price”). The Tender Price represents an
attractive premium of approximately 10% to the closing price of the
Class A Shares on March 31, 2025, and an approximately 9% premium
to the volume-weighted average price (“
VWAP”) of
the Class A Shares for the ten trading days preceding the
announcement of the Tender Offer. The total value of the Tender
Offer, if fully taken up, is approximately $75.7 million. The
Tender Offer is not a “take-over bid” under Canadian securities
laws.
Shareholders who have questions with respect to
the Tender Offer should contact Carson Proxy, information agent for
the Tender Offer, at 1-800-530-5189 (North America Toll Free),
416-751-2066 (Local and Text), or by email at info@carsonproxy.com.
Tender Offer materials will be available on the Company’s SEDAR+
profile at www.sedarplus.ca.
The Plantro Tender Offer
The Tender Offer is open for acceptance by
shareholders of the Company until 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on April
11, 2025 (the “Expiry Time”), unless the Tender
Offer is extended, varied or withdrawn. Plantro is making the
Tender Offer to all shareholders of the Company (other than Class A
Shares held by the Crown Investment Corporation of Saskatchewan or
any other entity wholly-owned by the Province of Saskatchewan). If
the Tender Offer is withdrawn, Plantro shall cause all Class A
Shares delivered pursuant to the Tender Offer to be returned to
shareholders. The Tender Offer is not subject to any financing
condition and Plantro confirms that it has sufficient cash
resources to pay for all Class A Shares subject to the Tender
Offer.
If more than the maximum number of Class A
Shares for which the Tender Offer is made are delivered in
accordance with the Tender Offer and not withdrawn at the time of
take up of the Class A Shares, the Class A Shares to be purchased
from each depositing shareholder will be determined on a pro rata
basis according to the number of Class A Shares delivered by each
shareholder, disregarding fractions, by rounding down to the
nearest whole number of Class A Shares.
The complete terms and conditions of the Tender
Offer will be set out in an offer letter to shareholders, which
will be publicly disclosed by way of a separate press release, as
well as a form of letter of transmittal (the “Letter of
Transmittal” and together with the offer letter to
shareholders, the “Offer Documents”) to be
used to accept the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer is subject to
certain conditions as set out in the Offer Documents which, unless
waived, must be satisfied. In particular, the Offer Documents
provide that each depositing shareholder whose Class A Shares are
taken up and paid for will appoint representatives of Plantro as
its nominees and proxy for the Company’s annual meeting of
shareholders to be held on May 13, 2025.
Plantro is relying on the exemption under
section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous
Disclosure Obligations to the circular requirements of applicable
Canadian proxy solicitation laws. For further details, please see
below under the heading “Information in Support of Public Broadcast
Exemption Under Canadian Law”. The Tender Offer is not a formal or
exempt take-over bid under Canadian securities laws and
regulations. In no event will Plantro (or its affiliates or
associates) make any such purchases of Class A Shares that would
result in Plantro, together with its affiliates and associates,
beneficially owning or exercising control or direction over more
than 15% of the outstanding Class A Shares upon completion of the
Tender Offer.
Full details of the Tender Offer are included in
the Offer Documents and will be available online on the Company’s
SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.
Reasons to Accept Plantro’s Tender Offer:
(a) |
|
All-Cash Premium. Shareholders will receive
liquidity at an attractive premium to the current trading price of
the Class A Shares (a premium of approximately 10% to the closing
price of the Class A Shares on March 31, 2025, and approximately a
9% premium to the VWAP of the Class A Shares on the TSX for the ten
(10) trading days preceding the announcement of the Tender
Offer). |
|
|
|
(b) |
|
Limited Liquidity. Plantro believes that another
liquidity event for shareholders is unlikely. There is persistent
and extreme lack of trading volume and liquidity in the Class A
Shares and the Tender Offer represents a unique opportunity for
shareholders to receive liquidity at an attractive premium to the
current trading price of the Class A Shares, in cash. |
Background to the Tender Offer:
Plantro is making the Tender Offer to all
shareholders of the Company (other than Class A Shares held by the
Crown Investment Corporation of Saskatchewan or any other entity
wholly-owned by the Province of Saskatchewan) following a recent
unsuccessful attempt to open discussions with the board of
directors (the “Board”) and management of the
Company, on issues that included Board refreshment and a potential
strategic investment.
Plantro also considered acquiring Class A Shares
in the market, but the extreme and persistent lack of liquidity in
the stock, made this impossible. For example, on Friday, March 28,
2025, only 251 Class A shares traded on the TSX. This represents a
meager $6,144 of value traded versus a market capitalization of
almost $0.5 billion.
Plantro is drawn to ISC because it believes that
ISC enjoys a durable competitive moat around its core offerings,
which drive healthy cash flow and a strong balance sheet. Plantro
remains hopeful that the Board will engage constructively with
Plantro, and recommend in favour of the Tender Offer.
Plantro’s Advisors
Plantro has engaged Goodmans LLP as its legal
advisor, Carson Proxy as its information agent, Odyssey Trust
Company as depositary, and Gagnier Communications as its strategic
communications advisor.
About Plantro
Plantro is a privately-held company, with an
established track record of making successful investments in
undervalued and high quality legal, financial, and information
services businesses.
Shareholder Questions
Shareholders who have questions with respect to
the Tender Offer, or who need assistance in depositing their Class
A Shares, please contact the depositary and information agent for
the Tender Offer:
Depositary:
Odyssey Trust Company
Toll Free (US &
Canada): 1-888-290-1175Calls (All Regions): 587-885-0960Email:
corp.actions@odysseytrust.com
Information
Agent: Carson Proxy
North America Toll
Free: 1-800-530-5189Local and Text: 416-751-2066Email:
info@carsonproxy.com
Information in Support of Public Broadcast
Exemption Under Canadian Law
Plantro is relying on the exemption under
section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 51-102 – Continuous
Disclosure Obligations to make this public broadcast solicitation.
The following information is provided in accordance with corporate
and securities laws applicable to public broadcast
solicitations.
This solicitation is being made by Plantro, and
not by or on behalf of management of ISC. The information agent
will receive a fee of up to $250,000 for its services as
information agent under the Tender Offer, plus ancillary payments
and disbursements. Based upon publicly available information, ISC’s
registered and head office is located at 300 – 10 Research Drive,
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 7J7, Canada. Plantro is soliciting
proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the
solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and
securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including
press release, speech or publication, and by any other manner
permitted under applicable Canadian securities laws. In addition,
this solicitation may be made by mail, telephone, facsimile, email
or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media
advertising and in person by representatives of Plantro. All costs
incurred for such solicitation will be borne by Plantro.
A registered shareholder who has given a proxy
under the terms of the Letter of Transmittal may, prior to its
Class A Shares being taken up and paid for under the Tender Offer,
revoke the proxy by instrument in writing, including a proxy
bearing a later date. The instrument revoking the proxy must be
deposited at the registered office of ISC at least 48 hours,
exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, preceding the date
of the meeting or an adjournment or postponement thereof, or with
the Chair of the meeting on the day of the meeting, or in any other
manner permitted by law, provided that, in each circumstance, a
copy of such revocation has been delivered to the depositary, at
its principal office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada prior to the Class
A Shares relating to such proxy having been taken up and paid for
under the Tender Offer.
A non-registered shareholder may revoke a form
of proxy or voting instruction form given to an intermediary at any
time by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the
instructions given to the non-registered shareholder by its
intermediary. Non-registered shareholders should contact their
broker for assistance in ensuring that forms of proxies or voting
instructions previously given to an intermediary are properly
revoked.
None of Plantro nor, to its knowledge, any of
its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or
indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of ISC’s most
recently completed financial year, or in any proposed transaction
which has materially affected or will materially affect ISC or any
of its subsidiaries. None of Plantro nor, to its knowledge, any of
its associates or affiliates, has any material interest, direct or
indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or
otherwise, in any matter to be acted upon at any upcoming
shareholders’ meeting, other than as set out herein.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Information
This press release may contain forward-looking
information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of
applicable securities laws. Specifically, certain statements
contained in this press release, including without limitation
statements regarding the Tender Offer, taking up and paying for
Class A Shares deposited under the Tender Offer, Plantro’s
assessment of the consequences of what it believes to be governance
failings at ISC, as well as Plantro’s assessment of ISC’s future
prospects, contain “forward-looking information” and are
prospective in nature. In some cases, but not necessarily in all
cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward looking terminology such as “plans”, “targets”, “expects”
or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “an opportunity exists”, “is
positioned”, “estimates”, “intends”, “assumes”, “anticipates” or
“does not anticipate” or “believes”, or variations of such words
and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”,
“could”, “would”, “might”, “will” or “will be taken”, “occur” or
“be achieved”. In addition, any statements that refer to
expectations, projections or other characterizations of future
events or circumstances contain forward-looking statements.
Statements containing forward-looking
information are not based on historical facts, but rather on
current expectations and projections about future events and are
therefore subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the future outcomes
expressed or implied by the statements containing forward-looking
information.
Although Plantro believes that the expectations
reflected in statements containing forward-looking information
herein made by it (and not, for greater certainty, any
forward-looking statements attributable to the Company) are
reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and
undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Material
factors or assumptions that were applied in formulating the
forward-looking information contained herein include the assumption
that the business and economic conditions affecting the Company’s
operations will continue substantially in the current state,
including, without limitation, with respect to industry conditions,
general levels of economic activity, continuity and availability of
personnel, local and international laws and regulations, foreign
currency exchange rates and interest rates, inflation, taxes, that
there will be no unplanned material changes to the Company’s
operations, and that the Company’s public disclosure record is
accurate in all material respects and is not misleading (including
by omission).
Plantro cautions that the foregoing list of
material factors and assumptions is not exhaustive. While these
factors and assumptions are considered by Plantro to be appropriate
and reasonable in the circumstances as of the date of this press
release, they are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the
actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to
be materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information. Many of these assumptions are based on
factors and events that are not within the control of Plantro and
there is no assurance that they will prove correct.
Important facts that could cause outcomes to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information include, among other things, actions
taken by the Company in respect of the Tender Offer, the content of
subsequent public disclosures by the Company, the failure to
satisfy the conditions to the Tender Offer, general economic
conditions, legislative or regulatory changes and changes in
capital or securities markets. If any of these risks or
uncertainties materialize, or if the opinions, estimates or
assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove
incorrect, actual results or future events might vary materially
from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Although
Plantro has attempted to identify important risk factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not
presently known to Plantro or that Plantro presently believes are
not material that could also cause actual results or future events
to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking
information.
Statements containing forward-looking
information in this press release are based on Plantro’s beliefs
and opinions at the time the statements are made, and there should
be no expectation that such forward-looking information will be
updated or supplemented as a result of new information, estimates
or opinions, future events or results or otherwise, and Plantro
disclaims any obligation to do so, except as required by applicable
law. All of the forward-looking information contained in this press
release is expressly qualified by the foregoing cautionary
statements.
1380-9916-3157
Information Services (TSX:ISC)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 3월(3) 2025 으로 4월(4) 2025
Information Services (TSX:ISC)
과거 데이터 주식 차트
부터 4월(4) 2024 으로 4월(4) 2025