New York (HedgeCo.Net) – The New York-based hedge fund Mason Capital remains firm with it’s plan to appeal a court decision blocking it from holding a shareholders meeting.

“While we are disappointed by the court’s decision, on a review of the reasons, we have concluded that there are strong grounds of appeal,” the hedge fund said Wednesday.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia decided Tuesday (11th Sept) that hedge fund Mason Capital cannot hold a meeting of Telus shareholders, the court said the actions of Mason Capital were contrary to law and that Mason’s meeting and resolutions will not proceed. The back story is reported on here by HedgeCo.

“When a party has a vote in a company but no economic interest in that company, that party’s interests may not lie in the wellbeing of the company itself.” The court said, “The interests of such an empty voter and the other shareholders are no longer aligned and the premise underlying the shareholder vote is subverted.”

Telus plans to have its regularly scheduled meeting October 17 where shareholders will have a vote on the company’s proposal to exchange its non-voting shares into common shares on a one-for-one basis.

“Mason owns nearly 20 per cent of Telus’ voting shares but it has also “sold short” some of its shares — a stock-trading manoeuvre that Telus argues reduces Mason’s true holding to less than one per cent of the company’s economic value.” The Vancouver Sun Reports.

Generally, an investor or group of investors with at least five per cent of a company’s stock are entitled to demand, or requisition, a meeting of a Canadian public company’s shareholders. Which, the court says the hedge fund does not have.

Alex Akesson
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alex@hedgeco.net
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