Shirley,
I seem to recall that your hubby is a lawyer and you also seem to know a lot about
securities law, so maybe you have some insight into this WSP problem that came up
today...
Basically WSP mgt. unilaterally changed an option deal whereby they changed the
option exercise price (over 2 million shares) to $1.62 from #3.66, exercisable by Feb. 2002. So
when and if the stock price goes up, (and IR always assures us shareholders that mgt. is
very confident) poor long suffering shareholder like me will maybe break even but
management will be able to make a killing by exercising their options at more than half off.
I don't know if this is a breach of fiduciary duty or not, or whether a cause of action lies
or not. Do you know? I'm a lawyer but I haven't practiced for a few years and didn't do
securities law when I did. If there is a cause of action do you or your hubby know any
Canadian lawyer who might be interested in a class action suit? Are Canadian lawyers
allowed to take cases on a contingent fee basis? Would they want a case like this? It
seems the damages could be over 2 million dollars.
Maybe I'm whistling Dixie and this is just business as usual, but it sure strikes me as
offensive for mgt. to give themselves what amounts to an over $2,000,000 Christmas
present in June - the difference between the old exercise price and the new one. I sure
can't see how it benefits the shareholders.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any insight into the mysteries of Canadian securities
law.
I would have e-mailed you instead of posting it on the thread, but you quite intelligently
don't post your address, and I have the self-delusion that posting this might have the
remote possibility of giving mgt. second thoughts. Maybe they need to get a legal
opinion as to their liability before proceeding with this ill advised course of conduct.
Maybe I'll be inspired to reactivate my license and sue them myself. If Bre-X can be
sued in US Courts, why not WSP? Bre-X had a US listing though, didn't they?
Tomato |
