The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, August 24, 2012

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP., Toronto symbols T $64.00 and T.A $62.68, has revived its plan to merge its common shares (one vote per share) and its non-voting class A shares into a single class. Under the terms of the proposal, each non-voting share will become one common share. Investors in each share class, voting separately, must approve the plan at a special meeting on October 17, 2012. The company cancelled a vote on the proposal that was scheduled for May 2012 because it felt it had little chance of winning. That’s because U.S.-based hedge fund Mason Capital, which now owns around 19% of Telus’s common shares and a small portion of the non-voting shares, said it would vote against the plan. Mason is using a complex stock-trading strategy that would let it lock in a profit if shareholders reject the proposal. However, Telus’s new plan only needs the support of half of the voting shareholders, down from a two-thirds majority under the previous proposal, though…