| ACS
MEDIA INCOME FUND
Sale
Announcement Conference Call - September 25, 2006
Wes
Carson
Good
morning. We thank you for your participation today.
With me on the call is Wayne Graham, our Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer who also serves as President of the
Fund's ACS Media Canada subsidiary. We have some brief comments
to make, after which Wayne and I will respond to any questions you
may have.
First I need to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking
statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected
in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance
that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements
speak only as of the date of this call, and are subject to a number
of risks and uncertainties, including the factors discussed in our
current and previous filings with the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking
statements.
This
morning we issued a press release announcing an agreement we have
entered into for the sale of ACS Media's operating business. We
are very pleased to report the proceeds of the sale equate to CDN$9.40
per unit of the Fund, which are expected to be paid to the Fund's
unitholders by way of redemption of the outstanding Fund units at
a redemption amount of CDN$9.40 per Fund unit. We will provide further
detail about the transaction on this call, but if you would like
a copy of the release, you can access it online at our website www.acsmedia.net.
As
most of you no doubt know, ACS Media has performed well since our
IPO in 2003, posting steady growth in US dollar revenue and EBITDA.
In fact, based on published reports, our revenue growth in 2005
ranked second best among incumbent directory publishers in the U.S.
and we have continued the momentum into 2006. Since the IPO, we
have maintained and grown our print directory business and experienced
robust growth in our online directory business.
Despite
increased competition since the IPO in some of our key markets,
we have successfully executed our business plan, maintained a strong
market leadership position, and continued to provide our customers
the best value proposition in terms of superior return on investment
for their advertising dollars.
Our
biggest frustration - no doubt shared by unitholders - is that the
growth we have achieved in US dollar revenue and EBITDA has not
resulted in increased Canadian dollar distributable cash. In fact,
distributable cash in Canadian dollars, which is the currency used
for distribution payments to unitholders, has been declining as
a result of the weakening US dollar.
At
the time of the IPO, the exchange rate was $1.45 Canadian for one
US dollar and today it is approximately $1.12, which represents
a decline of over 20% over that time period. A reduction in July
last year in our annual distribution rate from $1.10 per unit to
96 cents per unit brought our distributions more in line with the
distributable cash generated by the business, expressed in Canadian
currency. But since then the US dollar has continued to decline
and the outlook remains uncertain that we will see any sustained
improvement in the exchange rate. This currency situation has created
uncertainty as to whether the Fund can sustain its current level
of distributions and, we believe, has been reflected in the Fund's
unit price.
Although
we are recognized as market leaders in Alaska and have been applauded
for effectively operating the business, we believe that in the financial
market the Fund has increasingly been evaluated with reference to
the US dollar exchange rate and that has put us at a disadvantage
from a valuation standpoint.
Our
currency hedging strategy helped to mitigate the impact of the weakening
US dollar, but as we looked further out, we didn't see this as a
viable long-term strategy for maximizing returns for our unitholders.
Further,
our structure has proven to be an impediment in our efforts to grow
revenues through acquisitions.
So
we found ourselves in a position where we have a successful business,
but we believe the true value is not being reflected in the Fund's
unit price. At the same time, directory businesses have been enjoying
buoyant conditions as sought-after investments in many parts of
the world, and certainly in North America.
One
of the responsibilities of the board of trustees of the Fund is
to constantly review alternatives for maximizing unitholder value.
As a result of the decreased value of the U.S. dollar against the
Canadian dollar and the market environment for businesses such as
ACS Media, the board of trustees appointed an independent Special
Committee to review value creation strategies. After an extensive
evaluation, the Special Committee recommended and the board of trustees
unanimously agreed that a sale of the business was an option that
had to be investigated.
Management
and the board, together with our financial advisors, Genuity Capital
Markets, therefore embarked upon a thorough and highly structured
sale process to identify and contact parties that may be interested
in the directories space. This involved direct contacts with the
most likely strategic and financial purchasers in Canada, the United
States and Europe.
As
a result of that process, the Fund has entered into the definitive
agreement that we announced this morning. That agreement provides
for an affiliate of Caribe Acquisition Holdings, LLC, to acquire
the Fund's wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, ACS Media Canada Inc.,
which holds a 99.9% interest in ACS Media LLC, our Alaskan operating
company, for CDN$188 million (US$168 million) in cash. Caribe will
also fund the repayment of approximately US$35 million of ACS Media
debt upon the closing of the transaction. The proceeds of the sale
equate to CDN$9.40 per unit of the Fund, which are expected to be
paid to the Fund's unitholders by way of redemption of the outstanding
Fund units, after which the Fund will be wound up.
We,
and the board of trustees, believe that the transaction surfaces
the true value of the business for unitholders, and Genuity has
provided the board of trustees with an opinion that the consideration
is fair from a financial point of view to the Fund's unitholders.
The
final point I would like to make is that I believe in Caribe we
have found a knowledgeable and experienced partner. Caribe is a
leading provider of print directories and Internet-based local search
services in the Caribbean, specifically Puerto Rico and the Dominican
Republic, and therefore understands our business. Caribe is a portfolio
company of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, which is one of
the largest and most successful private equity investment firms
in the United States. Since its founding in 1979, Welsh Carson has
organized 14 limited partnerships with total capital exceeding US$16
billion.
The
process has produced a very credible purchaser, and resulted in
a sale price that recognizes the true underlying value of the business
and provides unitholders with a fair price in today's market.
I'll
now hand the call over to Wayne who will outline the path that the
transaction will take from this point on.
Wayne
Graham
Thank
you, Wes.
As
we noted in the news release, the transaction is subject to approval
by unitholders at a special meeting and other closing conditions
and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006.
The
record date for the special meeting has been set for October 16,
2006, and the special meeting, although not yet scheduled, is expected
to be held by the end of November. Unitholders will be receiving
an information circular which further sets out the details of the
transaction and which will request their approval of the transaction
and the wind-up of the Fund.
Following
the special meeting, with unitholder approval, the transaction with
Caribe will be completed, and within a short period of time thereafter
the Fund will redeem the outstanding units of the Fund at a redemption
amount of $9.40 per unit. This will be in addition to any distributions
declared and paid by the Fund in the normal course between now and
the payment of the redemption amount. The Fund will continue with
its normal course cash distributions of CDN$0.08 per unit for the
months of September (already declared with a record date of September
29, 2006 and payable on October 31, 2006) and October, however,
as the transaction is expected to close before the end of November,
no distribution for the month of November will be paid.
Although
the circular will provide a detailed description of the process
undertaken by the Special Committee, we would like to emphasize
that the transaction represents an overall value of approximately
10.5X trailing EBITDA, which is one of the highest multiples for
an incumbent directory provider in the United States. We believe
this transaction, therefore, represents a compelling and attractive
value for our unitholders.
Wes
Carson
Thank
you, Wayne.
I
don't think there's anything further to add, except to say again
that we believe this transaction is in the best interest of our
unitholders. While we have been pleased with the way the business
has developed over the past three and one-half years, and we are
confident of achieving further steady growth, we have also been
disappointed that our unitholders have not been able to adequately
share in the success because of the weakening US dollar.
We
believe this transaction is the result of a process that has helped
to maximize unitholder value and realizes the true value of the
underlying business. We look forward to your support at the special
meeting.
Thank
you for your attention. Wayne and I would now be pleased to respond
to questions.
OPERATOR: Your first question comes from Ben Mogil, from
Westwind Partners. Please go ahead.
BEN
MOGIL: Hi, guys. Good morning.
WESLEY
CARSON (President and Chief Executive Officer, ACS Media LLC):
Hello, Ben.
BEN
MOGIL: First of all, congratulations on the sale. It looks like
the multiples are very good. Can you give us a sense of how sort
of spirited the bidding auction was, how many parties did you send
out preliminary materials to, and how many came to the final finish
line, if you will?
WESLEY
CARSON: We will actually outline that in great detail, as you
know, Ben, in our circular. But we can tell you that it was more
than 50 credible, potential buyers across three continents and we
started this process with a strategic planning session with the
board of trustees back in the spring. The process developed with
an analysis of multiple strategies for value creation and as that
developed, a special committee was formed that recommended that
we go forward with exploring a sales option, and so that has been
in the works now since early summer.
BEN
MOGIL: And I know you've talked in the past, one of the issues
about the potential buy-out. One of the issues I believe in the
past was the tax leakage at the operating company because the book
value was continuously declining. Does the structure of this deal,
by buying just the fund or having the fund redeem its units more
or less take care of that issue?
WESLEY
CARSON: Actually, Caribe will be acquiring Media Canada, the
Canadian corporation. And then the fund units will be redeemed.
And we will be providing an extensive analysis of the tax implications
in the circular.
Wayne, do you wish to comment on that?
WAYNE
GRAHAM (Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer,
ACS Media LLC): Just to add on to your comment, Ben, by selling
Media Canada, it's the most efficient tax structure to unitholders.
So that was an optimal structure for unitholders.
BEN
MOGIL: Okay, sure. Have you been getting pressure from unitholders
on, you know, what they were seeing and as I was seeing, a gap between
good operations and good valuations in the market for directories
and obviously stock prices lagging; was there any thought about
maybe just going to U.S. dollar payout and continue as a public
company or I guess that wouldn't have solved the problem longer
term as well?
WESLEY
CARSON: Well, we did explore that along with a number of other
potential strategies and determined that the best opportunity for
providing real value to the unitholders was through this transaction
process. But that was included in our analysis.
BEN
MOGIL: Okay, and you know, I think that's probably about it.
Congratulations. The multiples look very good and congratulations
on what looks to be a great sale.
WESLEY
CARSON: Thank you, Ben.
BEN
MOGIL: Thanks, guys.
OPERATOR:
Ladies and gentlemen, if there are any additional questions at this
time, please press the * followed by the 1. As a reminder, if you
are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing
the keys.
Mr. Carson, there are no further questions at this time. Please
continue.
WESLEY
CARSON: We again thank you for your participation with us. As
Wayne indicated, the detailed circular will be forthcoming with
much detail on both the process and the windup of the fund. We look
forward to keeping you apprised as we go forward.
Thank you very much.
OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference
call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your
lines.
****
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