Amisco shareholder wants to take company private
Makes offer of C$1.60 per share
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, 12/2/2008 8:08:24 AM
L'ISLET, QUEBEC — The largest shareholder of Amisco Inds. wants to take the metal furniture specialist private, the company announced Monday.A wholly owned subsidiary of Gestion Martin Poitras, which owns a 47% stake in Amisco, has offered C$1.60 per share for outstanding shares. Clarke Inc., which owns a 15% of Amisco's shares, said it will vote in favor of the deal. Together the two companies own and control 62%, or about 2.4 million, of Amisco's outstanding shares.
Based on the value of the offer, GMP would pay about $3.25 million for the shares it does not already own.
Amisco's shares closed at 75 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Nov. 27. In early trading today, the shares jumped to C$1.29.
The proposed privatization is subject to the positive recommendation of a special committee of independent directors of Amisco.
Amisco said its sales in the fiscal third quarter ended Aug. 30 were down 13.3% from the same period a year earlier due to a weakened U.S. dollar and a sluggish U.S. economy. Sales for the third quarter were C$6.3 million, and the company reported a net loss of C$149,868 or 4 cents per share, compared with a loss of C$22,817 or 1 cent per share a year earlier.
