RE: RE: Why Mason's strategy won't work again Agreed - the proxy payment goes to the broker. But seeing as a large majority of minor shareholders don't understand/care/vote, the broker will no doubt be able to easily convince them to vote YES.
However, I disagree with your statements on if this sort of thing will happen again, and, what would happen to the share price. The reasons being:
A) Most voting shareholders also have a NV position (except for Mason) - thus, these voting shareholders (especially US funds) will see an economic benefit from the consolidation. The incentive would easily have passed if it weren't for Mason. Assume now, after this gets scuttled, that Mason is out of the picture. Subsequently:
B) TELUS announces the consolodation attempt again. One option:
C) The date of record is instant (similar to an acquisition or other such event in which case the immediate holders of the stock gain the benefit); this leaves no opportunity for Mason or similar to acquire additional voting rights to try and block deal. Non-voting shares move up the next day, minus a small premium for the off chance it gets voted down (unlikely)
or, second option if the structure is similar to this attempt, with a future record date
D) The price differential (bid / ask) on the NV votings shares will be quite high. The sellers will want the same price as TELUS shares, minus a small risk adjusted premium if the deal doesn't go through. The buyers will want a reasonable premium for the risk/reward and hence won't want to pay the ask price. The share volume will drop significantly. No question in the mind about it. Any compression in the spread will result in shorting to repeat what Mason has done.
yen4zen: Answer these questions:
1) Why would the buyers on the NV shares want to bid up the price, knowing that if they do, they will open up an opportunity for the hedge funds to short and then try and end the deal.
2) Why would the sellers of the NV shares want to sell for anything less than the voting share price - knowing that if they hold, they will get that value when the consolidation occurs?