COGECO ANNOUNCES RENEWAL OF ITS NORMAL COURSE ISSUER BID
Montréal, July 31, 2017 – Cogeco Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Cogeco") announces that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has accepted its notice of intention for a normal course issuer bid in respect of its Subordinate Voting Shares (the "Subordinate Shares"). Purchases pursuant to the notice will not commence prior to August 2, 2017, the date following the date upon which the Corporation’s current normal course issuer bid is set to expire, and will not continue beyond August 1, 2018.
The notice will enable Cogeco to acquire up to 550,000 Subordinate Shares for cancellation representing approximately 3.7% of the 14,807,607 shares of such class which were issued and outstanding as at July 21, 2017.
All purchases will be conducted through the facilities of the TSX or Canadian alternative trading systems, if eligible, and will conform to their regulations. Purchases under the normal course issuer bid will be made by means of open market transactions or such other means as the TSX may permit, including pre-arranged crosses and block purchases.
Under TSX rules, the Corporation will be allowed to purchase daily, through the facilities of the TSX, a maximum of 2,144 Subordinate Shares representing 25% of the average daily trading volume, as calculated per the TSX rules. In addition, the Corporation may make, once per week, a block purchase (as such term is defined in the TSX Company Manual) of Subordinate Shares not directly or indirectly owned by insiders of the Corporation, in accordance with TSX rules. The Subordinate Shares purchased pursuant to the normal course issuer bid will be cancelled.
The price to be paid by the Corporation for any Subordinate Share will be the market price at the time of acquisition, plus brokerage fees where applicable.
The Corporation has entered into an automatic share purchase plan with a designated broker on the date hereof to allow for the purchase of Subordinate Shares under the normal course issuer bid at times when the Corporation would ordinarily not be permitted to purchase Subordinate Shares due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods.
Under the ongoing normal course issuer bid expiring on August 1, 2017, Cogeco repurchased, up to July 21, 2017, a total of 186,492 Subordinate Shares at a weighted average price per Subordinate Shares of $60.23.
Cogeco currently believes that the purchase of its Subordinate Shares under the normal course issuer bid is an appropriate and desirable use of available cash to increase shareholder value and that it provides additional investment returns to its shareholders.
ABOUT COGECO
Cogeco Inc. is a diversified holding corporation which operates in the communications and media sectors. Through its Cogeco Communications Inc. subsidiary, Cogeco provides its residential and business customers with video, Internet and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks. Cogeco Communications Inc. operates in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name in Québec and Ontario, and in the United States under the Atlantic Broadband name in western Pennsylvania, south Florida, Maryland/Delaware, South Carolina and eastern Connecticut. Through Cogeco Peer 1, Cogeco Communications Inc. provides its business customers with a suite of information technology services (colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services), through its 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network® and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe. Through its subsidiary Cogeco Media, Cogeco owns and operates 13 radio stations across most of Québec with complementary radio formats serving a wide range of audiences as well as Cogeco News, its news agency. Cogeco’s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CGO). The subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Communications Inc. are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA).
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to Cogeco Inc.’s ("Cogeco" or the "Corporation") future outlook and anticipated events, business, operations, financial performance, financial condition or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may"; "will"; "should"; "expect"; "plan"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "intend"; "estimate"; "predict"; "potential"; "continue"; "foresee", "ensure" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Particularly, statements regarding the Corporation’s financial guidelines, future operating results and economic performance, objectives and strategies are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, which Cogeco believes are reasonable as of the current date. Refer in particular to the "Corporate Objectives and Strategies" and "Fiscal 2017 Financial Guidelines" sections of the Corporation's 2016 annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis for a discussion of certain key economic, market and operational assumptions we have made in preparing forward-looking statements. While Management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Corporation, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what Cogeco currently expects. These factors include risks such as competitive risks, business risks, regulatory risks, technology risks, financial risks, economic conditions, ownership risks, human-caused and natural threats to our network, infrastructure and systems and litigation risks, many of which are beyond the Corporation’s control. For more exhaustive information on these risks and uncertainties, the reader should refer to the "Uncertainties and Main Risk Factors" section of the Corporation's 2016 annual Management’s Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") and of the third quarter of fiscal 2017 MD&A. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Cogeco and future events and results may vary significantly from what Management currently foresees. The reader should not place undue importance on forward-looking information contained in this news release which represent Cogeco's expectations as of the date of this news release (or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made) and are subject to change after such date. While Management may elect to do so, the Corporation is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) and does not undertake to update or alter this information at any particular time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.
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SOURCE:
Cogeco Inc.
Andrée Pinard
Vice President and Treasurer
Tel.: 514-764-4700
INFORMATION:
Media
René Guimond
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications
Tel.: 514-764-4700