The headline for the Harmac response is: "Harmac Pacific Board Dismisses Reported Bid as Unfair and Opportunistic"; the story follows:
VANCOUVER, Dec. 15 /CNW-PRN/ - Harmac Pacific Inc. announced today that
it has been advised that Pope & Talbot, Inc. intends to make an offer to
acquire 50.1% of the outstanding common shares of Harmac Pacific, including
the shares currently held by Pope & Talbot, at a price of $11.50 cash per
share. This is an unsolicited proposal, and the Company has not received a
formal offer.
Reacting to the announcement, Harmac Pacific's Chairman Richard Meyers
said, ''The proposed offer is very opportunistic for a number of reasons.
First, markets for commodities, including pulp, are in a state of considerable
uncertainty due primarily to the economic situation in Asia. Second, Harmac
Pacific is in the process of completing a strategic acquisition of two pulp
mills from Kimberly-Clark that could be jeopardized by the Pope & Talbot bid.
And third, a partial offer is inherently unfair and coercive to shareholders,
since it attempts to gain control without paying shareholders the control
value for all of the shares. Based on the closing price of Harmac's shares on
Friday of $7.80, and on our understanding of the number of shares currently
owned by Pope & Talbot, the effective value of the 50.1% partial bid to
existing shareholders is only approximately $9.50 per common share. Prior to
the past three weeks of trading, the Company's shares have never traded below
that price in the 30 months since it became a public company.''
''The Board will review the offer if and when it is received, and make a
recommendation that is in the best interest of shareholders at that time.
However, the proposed offer price is very low in light of past share
performance, the underlying value of Harmac's assets and Harmac's future
opportunities as a leading consolidator of the pulp industry.''
Mr. Meyers added that ''The Board is committed to improving shareholder
value and has undertaken a number of initiatives to do so, including the
recent agreement to purchase two pulp mills from Kimberly-Clark. It is
clearly the Board's responsibility to continue to evaluate and seek all
strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value.'' The Company also
announced that it has retained CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Inc. as financial
advisors.
Harmac Pacific Inc. is engaged in the business of producing high quality
softwood kraft pulp. Its Nanaimo mill, located on the east coast of Vancouver
Island in British Columbia, is one of Canada's largest producers of NBSK pulp,
with an annual capacity of 370,000 tonnes.
SOURCE: Harmac Pacific Inc.
/CONTACT: Ralph Leverton, Vice-President Finance and C.F.O. at (604)
895-7702/
(HRC.) |
