(August 16 – 17:00 ET) – Bissett Investment Management Inc. has released the directors’ circular recommending the takeover proposed by Franklin Resources, the parent company of Templeton Management Ltd.
According to the circular, Bissett and Franklin began their buyout discussions back on March 24, when they entered a confidentiality agreement. By May, Franklin indicated that it wanted to do a deal and began a due diligence review. Through June and July, Bissett, Franklin and Bissett’ advisor, RBC Dominion Securities Inc., carried on negotiations until a deal was finally reached in late July.
Assuming the deal goes ahead, Franklin intends to combine its business in Canada — Templeton — with Bissett, “in order to build the best selection of products through strong proprietary investment management teams to meet investors’ needs worldwide”. Bissett’s investment management team will continue to operate independently.
Bissett executives Fred Pynn, Michael Quinn, and Kevin Wolfe have entered into employment agreements with Templeton for four years under which each officer is entitled to the same level of base salary and bonus that they received for fiscal 1999 and 1998. As well, they will each receive options to purchase 40,000 common shares of Franklin.
Nancy Grant Lazar has entered an employment agreement for just one year, with an option for an additional year as an independent consultant. David Bissett has entered into an independent consulting agreement for five years to provide client and dealer relations, communications and other services for a monthly fee of $5,000.
Franklin and Bissett have also agreed that Bissett “may use its reasonable commercial efforts to encourage” employee optionholders, exercisable at $16.95 a share, to either exercise their options prior to the deal’s closing; or elect to receive $4.03 in cash per share in exchange for terminating the options.
-IE Staff