EmailStory Stocks®
Archive
Last Update: 27-Aug-12 09:14 ET
AOL shares rise 4% following share repurchase and special dividend
AOL (AOL $34.36 +1.44) announced its final steps in returning ~$1.1 bln to AOL shareholders in 2012, entering into a $600 mln fixed-dollar collared Accelerated Stock Repurchase Agreement with Barclays Bank and announcing its authorization of a $5.15/share special cash dividend. AOL has agreed to repurchase $600 mln worth of common stock under the ASR Agreement, utilizing the share repurchase authorization previously approved and an incremental $10 mln authorized by the Company on August 26. AOL will pay the $600 mln at the beginning of the ASR Agreement and expects to receive shares throughout the remainder of the year and a substantial majority of the shares underlying the transaction before year-end, including approximately 4 mln shares that Barclays will deliver to AOL on August 30. Additionally, the Company authorized a special, one-time, cash dividend of $5.15 per share, payable on December 14, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 5, 2012. As a result, due to our desire to preserve our large domestic tax attributes which could be significantly impaired should a "change of control" be triggered under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the Company has adopted a Tax Asset Protection Plan intended to act as a deterrent to any individual, individual fund or family of funds with common dispositive power acquiring 4.9% or more of the Company's outstanding shares without the approval of the Company's Board of Directors.
