Shareholders of Torstar Corp. (TSX:TS.B) have voted in favour of a friendly privatization arrangement led by former Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. president Paul Rivett.
The company's Board of Directors recommended that shareholders reject a late cash offer from Canadian Modern Media Holdings Inc. worth 80 cents per share, calling the offer "disingenuous."
While that offer is worth more than the 74 cents a share offered by NordStar Capital LP -- a group led by Rivett, businessman Jordan Bitove and former Ontario premier David Peterson -- Torstar said that the bid from CMMH didn't include any contingency value rights or any financing information.
Torstar, which owns newspaper dailies such as The Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and Waterloo Region Record, also noted that a subsidiary of Fairfax and the trustees of the Torstar Voting Trust are "obligated" to maintain their support for the NordStar bid after entering into hard lockup arrangements.
Torstar said that over 98% of the votes cast by shareholders supported NordStar's bid. The company said that nearly 82% of votes by shareholders, excluding the company's voting trust or Fairfax subsidiary (which owns approximately 40% of Torstar) backed the NordStar offer.
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