Abitibi and Bowater announce amendment to merger deal.Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. and Bowater Inc. have announced that they have amended the combination agreement signed Jan. 29, 2007, in which Abitibi-Consolidated and Bowater agreed to combine their companies in an all-stock merger of equals. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that the combination remains tax deferred for U.S. resident holders of Abitibi-Consolidated shares. As amended, the combination agreement limits the number of exchangeable shares that may be issued to an amount that, when combined with the exchangeable shares currently issued to holders of shares of a Canadian subsidiary of Bowater, is less than 20 percent of the total voting power of the combined company AbitibiBowater. In the event that eligible Abitibi-Consolidated shareholders elect to receive more exchangeable shares than are available, the remainder of their shares will be exchanged for shares of AbitibiBowater common stock, pro rata [Latin, Proportionately.] A phrase that describes a division made according to a certain rate, percentage, or share. In a Bankruptcy case, when the debtor is insolvent, creditors generally agree to accept a pro rata share of what is owed to them. to their shareholdings. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a press release, Abitibi and Bowater believe that it is unlikely that eligible Canadian shareholders of Abitibi-Consolidated will be limited in their ability to receive exchangeable shares and to benefit from a tax deferral tax deferral The delay of a tax liability until a future date. For example, an IRA may result in a tax deferral on the amount contributed to the IRA and on any income earned on funds in the IRA until withdrawals are made. for Canadian income tax purposes. Abitibi-Consolidated produces newsprint newsprint low grade paper used for newspapers. Old newspapers are fed to cattle as an alternative roughage and may occasionally be ingested by dogs. Significant amounts of lead are accumulated in tissues; no cases of poisoning have been recorded in cattle, though it has been and commercial printing papers as well as wood products, serving client in some 70 countries from its 45 operating facilities. Abitibi-Consolidated is among the largest recyclers of newspapers and magazines in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , diverting approximately 1.7 million metric tons of paper from landfills per year. Bowater Inc. produces coated and specialty paper and newsprint. In addition, the company sells bleached market pulp and lumber products. Bowater has 12 pulp and paper mills in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Canada and South Korea. It also operates six recycling plants and is one of the world's largest consumers of recycled newspapers and magazines. The two companies announced plans to merge in January 2007. Abitibi-Bowater will own or operate 32 pulp and paper facilities and 35 wood product facilities located mainly in Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces) is the region of Canada generally considered to be east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:
More information is available at www.abitibiconsolidated.com. |
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