Silver Bullion Trust Issues Letter to Unitholders; Continues to Recommend Rejection of Sprott Offer
(firmenpresse) - TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/30/15 -- Dear Fellow Unitholders,
On May 27, 2015, Sprott launched a hostile take-over bid to acquire all of the outstanding Units of Silver Bullion Trust ("SBT") in exchange for units of Sprott Physical Silver Trust ("Sprott PSLV"). Sprott has made numerous disparaging and inaccurate statements about SBT, its administrator and its Trustees. We believe Sprott seeks to deflect your attention from the deficiencies in their unsolicited offer, their poor track record as investment managers, and their transparent attempt to take over the administration of SBT to generate fees.
Sprott does not offer compelling value to Unitholders, and it is in your best interest to retain your SBT Units. Sprott would give you no meaningful premium in exchange for significantly higher costs, increased tax risks, reduced bullion security and dramatically diminished governance rights. In addition, there is a risk that the transaction will not result in a tax-free reorganization for certain U.S. Unitholders.
SBT has approved an enhanced redemption feature
On June 24, 2015, your Trustees approved a significantly enhanced cash redemption feature that will be available to ALL Unitholders, which should reduce any potential future trading discounts to Net Asset Value ("NAV"), while maintaining all of the existing advantages of SBT's low-cost and tax efficient structure. Your Trustees considered how best to mitigate the potential for SBT Units to trade at discounts in bear markets without altering the advantages of the SBT structure that have allowed it to outperform in bull markets for silver. With the enhanced cash redemption feature in place, in addition to the significantly lower cost, superior bullion security, vastly superior governance structure and more favourable tax treatment inherent in your SBT Units, there is simply NO COMPELLING REASON FOR SBT UNITHOLDERS TO TENDER TO SPROTT.
SBT has filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the Sprott Offer due to its many legal deficiencies
SBT has filed a lawsuit in Ontario court seeking to enjoin the Sprott Offer due to its many legal deficiencies that are detrimental to SBT Unitholders. Among the key issues raised with the court, is that the bid is in fact an illegal proxy solicitation, seeks to circumvent and reduce standard takeover bid tender thresholds, includes an irrevocable power of attorney that is detrimental to Unitholders and hinders normal withdrawal rights. The lawsuit also alleges that Polar Securities Inc. ("Polar") has been illegally acting in concert with Sprott without public disclosure, which is in contravention of Canadian securities laws. In addition to the well documented reasons to reject the Sprott Offer, given the Sprott Offer may not proceed until the legal deficiencies contained therein are opined on by the court, SBT Unitholders can postpone making any decisions with respect to the Sprott Offer. In connection with the legal proceedings, Sprott now intends to extend its offer until August 7, 2015, so there is no urgency to take any action.
The Board of Trustees continues to recommend that Unitholders REJECT the Sprott Offer, TAKE NO ACTION and DO NOT TENDER their Units to the Sprott Offer and WITHDRAW their Units if already tendered.
KEY REASONS TO REJECT THE SPROTT OFFER
To view the graph accompanying this press release please click the following link:
Conclusion
Your Trustees have always acted in the best interest of ALL Unitholders and will continue to do so. In order to address the discount at which SBT Units have traded in the current prolonged bear market for silver, your Trustees have approved a significantly enhanced cash redemption feature, which should not alter the current advantages of SBT's fee, security, tax and governance structure. The preservation of SBT's existing structure should allow SBT Units to outperform when positive silver markets return as they have done in the past. With SBT's new enhanced cash redemption feature, we believe even more strongly that retaining your SBT Units represents a superior alternative for Unitholders as compared to the hostile offer being made by Sprott, which offers Unitholders no meaningful premium, 35% higher costs and the assumption of well-documented risks.
Significantly, Unitholders will continue to benefit from SBT's much lower expense ratio, superior bullion security and safeguards, tax-efficient structure and best-in-class governance - features that make SBT the clear choice for long-term silver bullion investors.
More detailed information regarding the Sprott Offer and the reasons for your Trustees' recommendations to SBT Unitholders to REJECT the Sprott Offer can all be found on SBT's website at . Unitholders are urged to read the documents provided on our website in detail when determining how or whether they will respond to the Sprott Offer.
The Board recommends that Unitholders REJECT the Sprott Offer, TAKE NO ACTION and DO NOT TENDER their Units to the Sprott Offer and WITHDRAW their Units if already tendered.
Unitholders who have already tendered their Units to the Sprott Offer can withdraw their Units by contacting their broker or D.F. King & Co., North America Toll-Free at 1-800-398-2816; or via email at
Thank you for your consideration of these concerns, and we thank you for your continued support of Silver Bullion Trust.
Sincerely,
Bruce Heagle
Chair of the Special Committee of Independent Trustees
J.C. Stefan Spicer
Founder, Chairman and CEO
About Silver Bullion Trust
Silver Bullion Trust (established on July 9, 2009) is a passive, self-governing, single purpose trust, which invests primarily in long-term holdings of physical silver bullion and it does not speculate in silver prices. At June 30, 2015, the Units of Silver Bullion Trust were 99.8% invested in unencumbered, allocated and physically segregated silver bullion.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities laws (collectively, "Forward-Looking Statements"), including those related to: any anticipated benefits of the enhanced cash redemption feature, including any anticipated impact on any potential future trading discounts to NAV, any anticipated tax impact on SBT and Unitholders, and any anticipated impact on SBT's fee, security, tax and governance structure; any anticipated action on the part of the Administrator in respect of its rights under the Administration Agreement; the receipt of any regulatory approvals required for the implementation of the amendments to the Declaration of Trust; whether or not SBT's legal proceeding against Sprott will be successful; the reasons of the Board of Trustees for recommending to Unitholders the rejection of the Sprott Offer, not taking any action with respect to the Sprott Offer and not tendering any Units to the Sprott Offer; the anticipated costs, risks and uncertainties associated with the Sprott Offer, including any anticipated impacts on bullion security, governance rights, potential tax risks and fees to be collected by Sprott; the anticipated timing, mechanics, completion and settlement of the Sprott Offer; the value of the Sprott PSLV units that would be received as consideration under the Sprott Offer; the ability of Sprott to complete the transactions contemplated by the Sprott offer; any anticipated results or performance of Sprott PSLV or any other affiliates of Sprott; any anticipated changes to the market price of Sprott PSLV units or any other securities of Sprott and its affiliates; and any anticipated future prices of silver and the Units.
SBT cautions investors about important factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed, implied or projected in such Forward-Looking Statements. Such Forward-Looking Statements involve projections, estimates, assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such Forward-Looking Statements or otherwise be materially inaccurate. No assurance can be given that these projections, estimates, expectations or assumptions will prove to be correct and any Forward-Looking Statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These Forward-Looking Statements speak only as to SBT's beliefs, views, expectations and opinions as of the date of this press release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, SBT does not intend and does not assume any obligations to update or revise these Forward-Looking Statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In addition, this press release may contain Forward Looking Statements drawn from or attributed to third party sources. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those risks detailed in SBT's filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities.
Contacts:
Silver Bullion Trust
905-304-4653 or 905-648-7879
Themen in dieser Pressemitteilung:
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 30.06.2015 - 21:39 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 404087
Anzahl Zeichen: 0
contact information:
Town:
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Kategorie:
Mining & Metals
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 248 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"Silver Bullion Trust Issues Letter to Unitholders; Continues to Recommend Rejection of Sprott Offer"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
Silver Bullion Trust (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
