ALA's ownership of ACI etc...For those who like dealing with facts, here are some to chew on:
The most recent Information Circular of ACI, dated May 9, 2019, shows ALA owning 11,025,000 shares of ACI. (see page 5 of the ACI Management Information Circular of May 9, 2019).
ACI has a total of 30,000,000 shares outstanding (see most recent quarterly financial statements on SEDAR).
ALA sold, in the fall of 2018, a total of 18,975,000 shares of ACI in the public listing of ACI's common shares. This includes both the initial listing and the over-allotment option later exercised by the underwriters.
The total proceeds, before fees and expenses of the offering, amounted to 18,975,000 X $14.50 = 275,137,500.
The value today, of those 18,975,000 shares that ALA sold in late 2018, is $ 509,344,500
(18,975,000 X $26.85 ).
So that means ALA shareholders lost out on at least $234,000,000 of value in that 10 month period.
To anyone who watched what happened to ALA last year, it's obvious that the company was in a financial vise and therefore they had to jettison those assets that they could monetize quickly.
Sure, ALA got some debt off its books, but it is worth noting that ACI was earnings positive even after paying the cost of that debt (to ALA). So yes ALA got rid of debt, but they also lost the positive cash flow (over and above the debt servicing) that ACI provided. For that they received less than $275,000,000 net (after fees etc).
That same stake, now less than 10 months later, has appreciated by $234,000,000 - or roughly 85%. ALA shares are obviously not up 85% since October 2018, so you can see who got the better end of that deal.
And finally, for those who bought ACI when it went public at $14.50, with their latest (10%) dividend increase the present ACI yield on $14.50 of invested capital (with current $0.26 /share quartlery dividend) is 7.17%.
By comparison, the ALA dividend since October 2018, well.... you get the picture.....