RE: DEAL IS DEAD, MUTUAL BREAKUP!Mutual my azz.
From BCE's website:
BCE privatization transaction will not proceedMONTREAL, Québec, Dec. 11 2008 -- BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE) todayannounced that it received last evening from the Purchaser, a company formedby an investor group led by Teachers' Private Capital, the private investmentarm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and affiliates of Providence EquityPartners Inc., Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, and Merrill Lynch GlobalPrivate Equity, a notice purporting to terminate the Definitive Agreementdated June 29, 2007, as amended. BCE disputes that the Purchaser was entitledto terminate the Definitive Agreement, as such notice was deliveredprematurely, prior to the outside date for closing of the transaction, andtherefore invalid. Given the Purchaser's position, the BCE privatizationtransaction will not proceed. As previously announced, the closing of the privatization transaction iscontingent upon the fulfillment of several closing conditions, including,pursuant to Section 8.1(f) of the Definitive Agreement, the receipt at theeffective time of a positive solvency opinion from KPMG. Earlier this morning,KPMG confirmed that it would not be able to deliver an opinion that BCE wouldmeet, post transaction, the solvency tests set out in the DefinitiveAgreement. In light of these developments, BCE will be terminating the DefinitiveAgreement in accordance with its terms, and will be demanding payment of the$1.2-billion break-up fee from the Purchaser. All closing conditions have beensatisfied by BCE, other than the solvency opinion, a condition to closing thatwas to be satisfied by its nature at the effective time. Under suchcircumstances, the agreement provides that the break up fee will be owed toBCE by the Purchaser. The Purchaser has taken the position that it is notobligated to pay the break-up fee. In addition, the BCE Board intends that immediately following terminationof the Definitive Agreement in accordance with its terms, it will address areinstatement of its common share dividend beginning with its fourth quartercommon share dividend payable on January 15, 2009, and that it will returncapital to its shareholders through a Normal Course Issuer Bid.
a)reinstatement of dividend payable on Jan 15
b)share buyback
c)upcoming lawsuit for the $1.2 billion.