Aquila Makes No Recommendation On Main Street's Unsolicited Mini-Tender Offer.Business Editors KANSAS CITY Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2002 Aquila, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :ILA ILA abbr. insulinlike activity ) announced today it is aware that an unsolicited mini-tender offer mini-tender offer An offer to purchase less than 5% of a company's stock. Investors are at greater danger in a mini-tender offer because it is not subject to many of the SEC disclosure and procedural protections that apply to traditional tender offers. has been made by Main Street AC, Inc. ("Main Street") to acquire up to 4.9 percent of Aquila's Class A common stock for $5.45 per share. As none of Aquila's authorized shares Authorized shares Number of shares authorized for issuance by a firm's corporate charter. of Class A common stock is outstanding, Aquila makes no recommendation on the unsolicited offer. Aquila cautions that, in general, offerees in a mini-tender offer should be aware that, once they accept the offer, they have no right to withdraw any stock tendered in the offer. Often the bidder has no current source of funding to complete a tender offer and has the right to delay closing of shareholder acceptances indefinitely. Accordingly, the right to receive payment for tendered shares is uncertain and it is possible that the bidder could delay the closing until the share price is trading above the mini-tender offer price. In the case of Main Street, its tender offer materials indicate their source of funding is, at best, speculative and that they could indefinitely delay payments for shares that are tendered. Aquila recommends that any shareholders considering any mini-tender offer (such as one Main Street purports to make) consult their financial adviser before making a decision as to whether to accept or reject the offer. Aquila also recommends that shareholders consult an article published by the Securities and Exchange Commission which contains "Tips for Investors" in respect of mini-tender offers (see http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/minitend.htm). Based in Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri. It encompasses parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest in Missouri, which includes counties in both Missouri and Kansas. , Aquila operates electricity and natural gas distribution networks serving more than six million customers in seven states and in Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. and Australia. The company also owns and operates power generation and mid-stream natural gas assets. At June 30, 2002, Aquila had total assets of $11.9 billion. More information is available at www.aquila.com. |
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