Alberta Oilsands Responds to Dissident Shareholder Proxy Cam Alberta Oilsands Responds to Dissident Shareholder Proxy Campaign
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Alberta Oilsands Responds to Dissident Shareholder Proxy Campaign
12:48 EDT Tuesday, October 29, 2013
FSC / Press Release
Alberta Oilsands Responds to Dissident Shareholder Proxy Campaign
NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.A.
Calgary, Alberta CANADA, October 29, 2013 /FSC/ - Alberta Oilsands Inc. (AOS - TSX Venture), ("AOS" or the "Company"), shareholders are due to elect directors at the annual and special meeting on November 1, 2013. Shareholders are urged to vote their proxy in favour of management's eight nominees as set out in the Management Information Circular dated October 4, 2013.
On October 28, 2013, Jason Sawyer (the "Dissident Shareholder") announced that he was soliciting votes in favour of a dissident board slate in connection with special and annual general meeting to be held on November 1, 2013.
The Dissident Shareholder campaign is surprising given that the Dissident Shareholder and new board nominees (the "Dissident Group") own a mere 175,000 shares of AOS. The minimal amount of shares owned by the Dissident Group is insufficient on its face to justify any legitimate concern by the Dissident Group on behalf of the shareholders of AOS. AOS views this proxy attack by the Dissident Group as an opportunistic action to seize the Company's current assets in Alberta and Africa; and AOS' near-term cash receivables relating to the Company's recently cancelled Clearwater leases.
The Dissident Group has not made clear what its intentions are should it control AOS nor has the Dissident Group established a proven record managing an oil exploration company such as AOS.
AOS urges its shareholders to support the current board of directors to continue its pursuit of obtaining compensation from the Province of Alberta in connection with the cancellation of the Clearwater leases in the Fort McMurray area. A change of the board of directors at this time or a lack of continuity at the management and board level may forestall the Company's opportunity to receive monetary compensation from the Government of Alberta in a timely matter.
The Company is currently drafting a plan for the use of proceeds from the compensation to be received from the Government of Alberta in connection with the cancelled Clearwater leases. In general, the plan for use of proceeds will include the allocation of funds to the optimization of our oil sands assets in Alberta, the development of our oil exploration licenses in Africa and any other opportunities that may arise at the time of the Company's receipt of the compensation funds, which would increase shareholder value. The details of the use of proceeds will not be finalized until closer to when the Company expects to receive the compensation, the timeline of which the Company is currently assessing.
Proxies must be received before 10:00 a.m. (Calgary time) on Wednesday, October 30, 2013.
About Alberta Oilsands Inc.
Alberta Oilsands Inc. is engaged in the exploration and development of drill-defined domestic assets, and an expanding portfolio of international projects. AOS holds bitumen leases in the Athabasca oil sands region of northeast Alberta. In addition, the Company's new Africa initiative is focused on active and known onshore and offshore basins on the East Africa Rift System and the offshore in pursuit of additional Cretaceous and Miocene aged critical mass opportunities. The Company's head office is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and its common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol AOS.
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I really agree with mgmt on this one, those "dissident" with 175 k share (which is like 20 k), mostly unknown, really look like a bunch of opportunistic guy looking to put their hand on the receivable. wouldn't be suprise to see them vote themselves big bonuses, and massive warrant after being elected... hope poeple vote for actual mgmt for the time being...