For Immediate Release Toronto Stock Exchange: BPF.UN
BOSTON PIZZA ROYALTIES INCOME FUND
ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT OF
AUTOMATIC SECURITIES PURCHASE PLAN FOR ITS NORMAL COURSE ISSUER BID
VANCOUVER, B.C., March 18,
2013 ‑ Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (the “Fund”) (TSX: BPF.UN) announced today that it has established an
automatic securities purchase plan (“ASPP”)
with its broker, BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., to allow for the repurchase of Fund
units under the Fund’s current Normal Course Issuer Bid at any time, including
when it ordinarily would not be active in the market due to its own internal
trading blackout periods, insider trading rules or otherwise. The ASPP will terminate on the earliest of:
(a) the date on which the purchase limits specified in the ASPP have been
attained, (b) the date on which the Normal Course Issuer Bid terminates, (c) the
Fund terminates the ASPP in accordance with the terms of the ASPP, in which
case the Fund will issue a press release announcing such termination, and (d) August 31,
2013. All purchases under the ASPP will
be made on the open market through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange
(“TSX”) in accordance with the
requirements of the TSX or other Canadian marketplaces by registered investment
dealers.
The
Fund previously announced on August 22, 2012 that the Fund had received TSX
approval of a Notice of Intention to Make a Normal Course Issuer Bid through
the facilities of the TSX from September 4, 2012 to no later than August 31,
2013. This Normal Course Issuer Bid
permits the Fund to repurchase for cancellation up to 1,442,522 Fund units. In accordance with the rules of the TSX, the
maximum number of units that can be purchased on a daily basis by the Fund is 7,174 units,
subject to the block purchase exception.
The Fund intends to finance purchases under the current Normal Course
Issuer Bid by drawing on the $26 million of available debt capacity that it has
under existing credit facilities established by a subsidiary of the Fund,
Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, with a Canadian Chartered Bank. As at March 18, 2013, the Fund has not
purchased any Fund units under its current Normal Course Issuer Bid.
The
Fund is a limited purpose, open-ended trust established under the laws of British
Columbia to acquire indirectly certain trade marks and trade names used by
Boston Pizza International Inc. (“BPI”)
in its Boston Pizza restaurants in Canada. The trade marks are licensed to BPI for 99
years for which BPI pays the Fund 4% of franchise revenues of its 348 Boston
Pizza restaurants in the royalty pool.
The
trustees of the Fund approved the contents of this news release.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund
Jordan Holm - Vice President of Investor Relations
Tel: 604-303-6083
investorrelations(at)bostonpizza.com
www.bpincomefund.com
® Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership. All Boston Pizza registered Canadian trade-marks and unregistered Canadian trade-marks containing the words "Boston", "BP", and/or "Pizza" are trade-marks owned by the Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership and licensed by the Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership to Boston Pizza International Inc.
© Boston Pizza International Inc. 2013