Reuters: Private Equity: UPDATE 2-Mason seeks foreign ownership details from Telus

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UPDATE 2-Mason seeks foreign ownership details from Telus Jun 28th 2012, 19:59 Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:59pm EDT June 28 (Reuters) - Telus Corp's biggest shareholder, Mason Capital Management LLC, has asked the telecommunications firm to disclose current foreign ownership levels and the basis on which it determined compliance with Canadian regulatory requirements. Mason, a U.S.-based hedge fund, has been looking for a buyer for its 19 percent stake in the Canadian firm. "The uncertainty surrounding Telus' compliance with the foreign ownership restrictions has persisted for many months now," said Michael Martino, principal and co-founder of Mason. Mason said in a letter to Telus that information on proxies submitted for a recent shareholders meeting shows about 42 percent of voting shares were held by shareholders who declared themselves non-Canadian or refused to answer a declaration of their residency. Mason's allegations are completely unfounded and misleading, Telus' spokesman Shawn Hall said in an email response. "Telus has been and continues to be fully compliant with foreign ownership restrictions, and (we) have our own control processes in place to ensure we remain compliant." The fund said the designated 33.3 percent voting shares in Telus for foreign ownership has been fully or close to fully allocated to non-Canadian shareholders. The Canadian government is introducing legislation that would enable a foreign buyer to control a telecom company with less than a 10 percent market share, a change that does not affect existing foreign-ownership restrictions on Telus. Foreigners are currently prohibited from owning more than 20 percent of the voting shares in those companies and limited to indirect control of 46.7 percent. Shares of Telus, whose main rivals are BCE Inc and Rogers Communications, w ere up 68 Canadian cents at C$60.70 on Thursday afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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