(September 21 – 10:45 ET) – Canadian Western Bank says that it has created a program designed to help those of its shareholders who own less than a board lot of the bank’s common shares to sell their shares without paying brokerage costs.
Under a program to be administered by Montreal Trust Company of Canada, the bank says it will bear the brokerage and administrative costs so that shareholders will receive full value for their shares within the prescribed settlement period.
The program applies to registered shareholders as well as beneficial holders of odd lot holdings registered in the name of a nominee held as of the record date September 20. Shareholders can expect to receive the program documentation within a few days and have until December 20 to take advantage of the program.
Larry Pollock, President of CWB, said the bank recognizes that it has a large number of small-scale, odd lot shareholders. We recognize that many of these shareholders hesitate to sell their shares because of the transaction cost, so we think it makes good sense to facilitate these sales and, as a by-product, reduce the bank’s administration costs.
-IE Staff