Crius Announces TSX Approval of Normal Course Issuer Bid
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OR OVER UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES/
TORONTO, March 27, 2018 /CNW/ - Crius Energy Trust (TSX: KWH.UN) (the "Trust", "Crius" or the "Company") today announces that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has approved the Trust's notice of intention to make a normal course issuer bid (the "NCIB Program"). Under the terms of the NCIB Program, Crius may acquire up to 4,425,557 of its trust units ("Trust Units") from time to time in accordance with the normal course issuer bid procedures of the TSX. Any repurchases under the NCIB Program will be made in Canada through the facilities of the TSX.
Repurchases under the NCIB Program may commence on March 29, 2018 and will terminate on March 28, 2019 or on such earlier date as the NCIB Program is complete. Purchases of Trust Units under the NCIB Program will be made in Canada through the facilities of the TSX in accordance with its rules. Daily purchases will be limited to 45,312 Trust Units, other than block purchase exemptions, representing 25% of the average daily trading volume of the Trust Units on the TSX for the six month period ending February 28, 2018, being approximately 181,249 Trust Units.
The price that the Trust may pay for any Trust Units purchased under the NCIB Program will be the prevailing market price at the time of purchase and any Trust Units purchased by the Trust will be cancelled. The board of directors of Crius Energy Administrator Inc., in its capacity as administrator for and on behalf of the Trust, believes that the underlying value of the Trust may not be reflected in the market price of the Trust Units from time to time and that, accordingly, the purchase of Trust Units will increase the proportionate interest in the Trust of, and be advantageous to, all remaining unitholders of the Trust.
As of March 22, 2018, there were 57,030,067 Trust Units issued and outstanding. The 4,425,557 Trust Units that may be repurchased under the NCIB Program represent approximately 10% of the public float of the Trust as of March 22, 2018, being 44,255,570 Trust Units.
Crius has appointed Desjardins Securities Inc. to make any purchases under the NCIB Program on its behalf.
About Crius Energy Trust
With over 1.4 million residential customer equivalents, the Company provides innovative electricity, natural gas and solar products to residential and commercial customers through exclusive partnerships, direct-to-consumer, digital, and broker marketing channels. Our unique brands offer consumers a broad suite of energy products and services including fixed and variable contracts, renewable energy, and bundled products to support their energy needs beyond what is offered by their local utility. Company growth is achieved organically with customers acquired through our diversified marketing channels and through accretive acquisitions in the deregulated energy and solar industries, where there is a significant opportunity to participate in the consolidation of market participants. The Company currently sells energy products in 19 states and the District of Columbia with plans to continue expanding its geographic reach. The Company is well-positioned to deliver capital appreciation and stable distributions to investors.
The Trust intends to continue to qualify as a "mutual fund trust" under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act"). The Trust will not be a "SIFT trust" (as defined in the Tax Act), provided that the Trust complies at all times with its investment restriction which precludes the Trust from holding any "non-portfolio property" (as defined in the Tax Act). Material information pertaining to Crius may be found on SEDAR under the Trust's issuer profile at www.sedar.com or on the Trust's website at www.criusenergytrust.ca.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, require the Trust to make certain assumptions and necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. Words such as "may", "will", "would", "could", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "continue", or the negative or comparable terminology, as well as terms usually used in the future and the conditional, are intended to identify forward-looking statements including the fact that the Trust "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled" and similar expressions or variations (including negative variations), or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur including, without limitation, statements about the board of directors of Crius's belief that the NCIB Program is advantageous to unitholders and that underlying value of the Trust may not be reflected in the market price of the Trust Units, the Trust's intentions regarding the NCIB Program and whether the Trust will receive the requisite acceptance of the TSX in respect of the NCIB Program. Although Crius believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may accordingly differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: fluctuations in the prices of the commodities; fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar; regulatory changes by national and local government, including corporate law, permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies; continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions; business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Crius; other uninsured risks. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions. Crius cannot assure unitholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Trust that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither Crius nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information, Crius does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.
SOURCE Crius Energy Trust
Michael Fallquist, Chief Executive Officer, Crius Energy Trust, (203) 663-7545; Roop Bhullar, Chief Financial Officer, Crius Energy Trust, (203) 883-9900; Kelly Castledine, Investor Relations, Crius Energy Trust, (416) 644-1753
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