HAMILTON, BERMUDA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/09/13 -- All amounts in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated
Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners L.P. (TSX: BEP.UN) ("Brookfield Renewable") today announced that it has sent a letter to the Board of Directors of Western Wind Energy Corp. ("Western Wind") in response to statements of Western Wind regarding Brookfield Renewable's all-cash offer (the "Offer") to acquire the issued and outstanding Common Shares of Western Wind for $2.50 per share.
Western Wind has asked that shareholders take no action with respect to the Offer but has not provided any indication that an alternative transaction proposal will be presented to shareholders prior to expiry of the Offer. Furthermore, Western Wind has not provided Brookfield Renewable access to information which may support a higher offer.
The full text of the letter Brookfield Renewable sent to the Board of Directors of Western Wind is below.
The Offer will be open until January 28, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. EST. For further information on the Offer, please contact CST Phoenix Advisors, Brookfield Renewable's information agent for the Offer, by toll free phone at 1-800-336-5159 or by email at inquiries@phoenixadvisorscst.com.
Full text of letter sent to the Board of Directors of Western Wind:
January 9, 2013
BY EMAIL
Board of DirectorsWestern Wind Energy Corp.Suite 1326, 885 West Georgia StreetVancouver, BCV6C 3E8
Gentlemen:
Re: All-Cash Offer to Acquire Western Wind Energy Corp.
As you know, we are a significant shareholder of Western Wind Energy Corp. ("Western Wind" or the "Company") and have made an offer ("Offer") to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Western Wind for cash consideration of $2.50 per share. We would like to take this opportunity to comment on certain public statements and information included in your November 30, 2012 Q3 conference call, your Directors' Circular in response to our Offer, and recent Western Wind news releases. We would also like to reiterate that our preferred approach is to work with the Board of Western Wind and its advisors towards a Board-supported transaction.
Over five months have elapsed since the announcement of the sales process, and over six weeks have elapsed since the announcement of our Offer. Mr. Ciachurski has criticized our Offer as too low, yet no alternative transaction has been presented to shareholders and we still have not been provided with access to any information that would support our paying a higher offer price. This, notwithstanding Mr. Ciachurski's comment on the November 30th conference call that "we're willing to give (Brookfield) information that they need to...reassess their price..."
As we indicated to the Chairman of the Board of Directors in our November 23, 2012 letter regarding the Offer, we have made our Offer without the benefit of due diligence. We have received no communication from Rothschild since their visit to our office on November 28, 2012 (this, despite a statement that "Rothschild is handling the relationship with Brookfield"), nor have we had any engagement with the Western Wind board or management. If Western Wind provides us with access to the information provided to other potential buyers in the sales process, we may find information on Western Wind that supports our paying a higher price. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are willing to do so as we stand ready to complete this work prior to the expiry of our Offer if you provide us adequate time to do so. We assume you will agree that engaging with us to maximize our offer price is in the best interest of Western Wind shareholders.
