Toronto, Ontario – November 17, 2006: Aecon Group Inc. (“Aecon”) (TSX:ARE) announced today that it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus in respect of a proposed secondary public offering of common shares. The preliminary prospectus has been filed with applicable securities regulators in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and British Columbia.
Aecon, along with Hochtief AG and certain of its subsidiaries that hold common shares of Aecon (collectively, “Hochtief”) have entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Paradigm Capital Inc. (the “Underwriters”), pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, from Hochtief, all of Hochtief's 16,576,896 Aecon common shares at a price of $6.30 per common share for aggregate gross proceeds to Hochtief of $104,434,444.80 (the “Offering”). Aecon will not receive any proceeds from the Offering.
The common shares under this Offering will be offered by way of a short form prospectus in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and British Columbia and in the United States only on a private placement basis pursuant to available exemptions from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Offering is scheduled to close on or about November 30, 2006 and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.
Aecon Group Inc. is Canada's largest publicly traded construction and infrastructure development company. Aecon and its subsidiaries provide services to private and public sector clients throughout Canada and internationally. The Company's shares are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ARE.