Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, July 17, 2020

Article Excerpt

TORSTAR CORP., $0.74, Toronto symbol TS.B, is still a hold. The company publishes The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest daily newspaper by circulation. Its other daily and weekly papers are spread across Ontario. In 2015, the company acquired 56% of VerticalScope, a private firm that operates over 600 online forums and a variety of websites. Torstar has accepted a new takeover offer from NordStar Capital LP. The Bitove and Rivett families control that private firm. NordStar will now pay $0.74 a share for Torstar. That’s 17.5% higher than its initial bid of $0.63. The higher offer also tops a $0.72-a-share bid from Canadian Modern Media Holdings Inc. It’s  private group formed by Matthew Proud and his brother Tyler Proud. Torstar’s controlling shareholders have now entered into a new voting-support agreement with NordStar. Those shareholders control all of the company’s class A voting shares. The agreement also includes Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (Toronto symbol FFH), which owns 40.3% of the outstanding class B non-voting shares. The voting-support agreement…