Hathor Responds to
Northern Continental Resources Directors’ Circular
Vancouver,
B.C. – December 10, 2007 -- Hathor Exploration Limited
(“Hathor”) (TSX-V: HAT) has reviewed the Directors' Circular (the
“Directors’ Circular”) filed by Northern Continental Resources Inc. (“Northern
Continental”) (TSX-V: NCR) in response to Hathor’s offer (the “Offer”) for all
of the outstanding common shares of Northern Continental.
Hathor
believes the Directors’ Circular is riddled with inaccuracies and
misleading statements that require immediate clarification.
Examples of Inaccurate and Misleading
Statements
|
(i)
The Offer will significantly dilute the economic interest
of Northern Continental Shareholders in the Russell Lake Property from a 60%
interest to a 17% interest
|
FALSE
|
(ii)
The Offer substantially undervalues the 60% interest of
Northern Continental in the Russell Lake Property
|
FALSE
|
(iii) Northern Continental’s senior
management has more skill and experience than Hathor’s exploration team
to effectively manage the exploration of the Russell Lake
project
|
FALSE
|
(iv)
The Offer was at a discount to Northern
Continental’s share price at the time of mailing
|
FALSE
|
(v)
The fairness opinion received by Northern Continental
provides sufficient analysis, including basis, valuation methodology and
comparative metrics, to determine whether the Offer is financially adequate
|
FALSE
|
(vi)
The Offer is highly conditional
|
FALSE
|
(vii)
Northern Continental’s Board of Directors responded
to Hathor’s initial friendly
proposal in a responsible manner that was in the best interest of the
Northern Continental shareholders
|
FALSE
|
(viii)
The Offer discriminates against Northern
Continental’s U.S.
shareholders
|
FALSE
|
(ix)
Hathor has attributed an accounting value of $35.64
million to the Russell Lake Property in its financial statements
|
FALSE
|
(x)
Hathor’s proposed spin-out of its Eskay Creek
Properties will be dilutive to Northern Continental shareholders
|
FALSE
|
Hathor
continues to believe that a combination with Northern Continental
will substantially increase value for Northern Continental shareholders as
described in Hathor’s offering circular dated November 16, 2007.
Hathor
responds in greater detail to parts of the Directors’ Circular that it
believes are untrue, inaccurate and misleading as follows:
(i) There
are several references in the Directors’ Circular suggesting that
Northern Continental shareholders’ ownership in the Russell Lake Property
would be reduced from 60% to 17% if the Offer is successful. This is both untrue and misleading.
If the Offer is completed on its terms, Northern Continental shareholders will
own shares in Hathor, which in turn will own 100%
of the approximate 113,000 acre Russell Lake Property, interests in ten
additional uranium projects that cover a total of approximately 773,000 acres
in the Athabasca Basin, and a 100% interest in more than 300,000 acres in the
Eskay Creek region of British Columbia. Pro
forma, former Northern Continental shareholders and existing Hathor
shareholders will own Hathor shares on the same economic basis in a larger,
multi-property, better capitalized Hathor which will own 100% of the Russell Lake Property and all
other existing Hathor properties. Furthermore, Northern Continental does
not currently have a controlling interest in the Russell Lake Property as the
joint venture is being controlled by a management committee with equal share
participation by each of Hathor and Northern Continental.
Using
the Northern Continental Board of Directors’ flawed logic, it could be
suggested that Northern Continental’s announced $3.5 million non-brokered
financing will reduce the ownership in the Russell Lake Property of those
Northern Continental shareholders who did not, or were not given the
opportunity to, participate in the financing from 60% to 50%.
(ii)
There are numerous references in
the Directors’ Circular indicating that the Offer undervalues Northern
Continental’s 60% interest in the Russell Lake Property. However,
there is no substantiation or quantification for Northern Continental
shareholders of what the value of the Russell Lake Property should be.
Hathor believes the reason for such deliberate exclusion is that any valuation
methodology or basis for quantifying the Russell Lake Property or Northern
Continental could be equally applied to Hathor’s interest in the Russell
Lake Property and its numerous other properties. Northern
Continental’s Board of Directors has made no attempt to quantify the
value of Hathor shares which is the consideration that Northern Continental
shareholders are to receive under the Offer. Northern Continental’s Board of Directors appear to have ignored,
or are unaware of, the fact that the correct valuation exercise is one of
relative value between Northern Continental and Hathor shares, not just the
absolute value of Northern Continental shares alone. On this
basis, Hathor does not believe that the Directors’ Circular has addressed
the relative value of the Offer and is consequently defective from the
perspective of applicable securities laws.
(iii)
The Directors’ Circular discloses an astonishing lack
of technical expertise in uranium exploration. Northern
Continental’s Board of Directors state that “Normal exploration practice is that 50% of the budget goes to
drilling, yet Hathor did not conduct any drilling while it spent in excess of
$2 million during the earn-in period”. The known uranium
orebodies in the Athabasca
Basin are small,
extremely high grade bodies occurring at considerable depth. Finding an
orebody is analogous to finding the “needle in the haystack”.
Without conducting a methodical, science-based pre-drilling program, as Hathor
has done, the likelihood is that a company could spend
its entire budget on drilling and find nothing.
Northern Continental’s Board of Directors actually
validate Hathor’s comprehensive approach to the identification of drill
targets by stating in the Directors’ Circular that: “the results of drilling so far have been
extremely positive”.
As further validation of
Hathor’s approach, all of the drill targets set out in Northern
Continental’s 2008 program were identified by Hathor on the basis of
Hathor’s comprehensive and thorough exploration work.
(iv)
The Directors’ Circular makes an erroneous reference
to the premium under the Offer. At the time of making the Offer on
November 19, 2007, the closing price of Hathor shares on the TSX Venture
Exchange (“TSX-V”) was indeed $0.73, representing an implied value
of $0.292 per Northern Continental share on the basis of 0.40 of a Hathor share
per Northern Continental share. The Directors’ Circular then erroneously
compares the foregoing value to the then current Northern Continental share
price and mistakenly calculates a discount. This methodology is incorrect. Any premium should only
be calculated against the undisturbed market price of Northern Continental
shares on the day prior to public announcement of the Offer. By November
19, 2007, the shares of Northern Continental fully reflected the market’s
reaction to Hathor’s publicly announced Offer. In the absence of
the announced Offer, Northern Continental’s share price would likely be
much lower than it is currently.
On November 5,
2007, the last trading day prior to Hathor’s announcement of its
intention to make the Offer, Northern Continental's closing share price on the
TSX-V was $0.265. Northern Continental’s volume weighted average
share price on the TSX-V for the 30 days ended
November 5, 2007 was approximately $0.243. Hence, at the time of making the Offer on November 19, 2007, the
Hathor share consideration represented a premium of 10% over Northern
Continental's closing share price on the TSX-V on November 5, 2007, and a
premium of 20% over Northern Continental's volume weighted average share price
on the TSX-V for the 30 days ended
November 5, 2007.
(v)
The fairness opinion of Stephen W. Semeniuk, CFA should be
disregarded because it provides no basis, no valuation
methodology, no comparative metrics nor any valuation conclusion.
In
keeping with the lack of basis in the Directors’ Circular regarding any
absolute or relative valuation of Northern Continental’s 60% interest in
the Russell Lake Property, the individual
valuator presents no basis, no valuation methodology, no comparative metrics
nor any valuation conclusion in his opinion. Hathor can only
conclude that his resistance to doing so is that any valuation methodology or
basis for quantifying the Russell Lake Property or Northern Continental could
be equally applied to Hathor’s interest in the Russell Lake Property and
its numerous other properties. The individual valuator, like the Northern
Continental Board of Directors, has made no attempt to quantify the value of
Hathor shares which is the consideration that Northern Continental shareholders
are to receive under the Offer. He also appears to have ignored that the
correct valuation exercise is one of relative value between Northern
Continental and Hathor shares, not just the absolute value of Northern
Continental shares alone.
(vi)
The Directors’ Circular
claims that the Offer is highly conditional. Hathor believes that the
conditions to the Offer are normal, customary and standard industry
practice. There is no comparative analysis in the Directors’
Circular to other recent industry offers and normal sets of conditions in like
circumstances. In addition, under the terms of the Offer, Hathor reserves
the right to waive certain conditions.
(vii)
Reference is made in the
Directors’ Circular to a previous offer by Hathor to Northern Continental
on the basis of 0.50 Hathor shares per share of Northern Continental.
Indeed, Hathor made an initial, friendly
approach to Northern Continental’s senior management and evidenced such
interest in a formal letter addressed to Northern Continental’s Board of
Directors. There was no formal response by Northern Continental’s
Board of Directors to Hathor’s letter. The Directors’
Circular now discloses that Hathor’s offer “was not considered to be a serious proposal”.
Not only does this disclose a stunning lack of corporate responsibility, but
Hathor believes that the inaction of Northern Continental’s Board of
Directors has denied Northern Continental shareholders the opportunity to
participate in a friendly, supported
transaction.
It
appears to Hathor that the Board of Directors and senior management of Northern
Continental are favouring a stance of entrenchment rather than an objective
measure of alternatives for Northern Continental shareholder value
maximization. Consider the following examples:
§
A lack of any response to Hathor’s initial friendly approach, which could have led to a friendly negotiation of terms;
§
Northern Continental’s announcement on November 9,
2007 that the Offer “completely underprice(s) the real value” of
Northern Continental shares without Northern Continental’s Board of
Directors having seen the offer circular, hired a financial advisor or
undertaken any financial analysis;
§
Proceeding with a dilutive non-brokered financing to new
investors after announcement of the Offer, a defensive measure that could
potentially deny existing Northern Continental shareholders wishing to tender to the Offer the opportunity to participate in
a successful Offer that creates value for all Northern Continental shareholders
rather than a select chosen few; and
§
Hiring an individual valuator who has provided no basis for
valuation of Northern Continental shares. Northern Continental’s
Board of Directors could have retained a reputable investment bank with the
necessary experience to advise the Northern Continental Board of Directors that
a relative, not absolute, valuation of Northern Continental and Hathor is
required.
(viii)
The Directors’ Circular
claims that the Offer discriminates against Northern Continental’s U.S.
shareholders. This is untrue.
Northern Continental’s U.S.
shareholders are eligible to tender
their Northern Continental shares to the Offer and receive cash, net of
brokerage commissions. There is no restriction for such shareholders to
prevent them from repurchasing Hathor shares in the open market. The
treatment of Northern Continental’s U.S.
shareholders is standard, normal and customary practice and is in keeping with
all applicable U.S.
and Canadian securities laws.
(ix)
Another erroneous claim in the Directors’ Circular is
the reference to the value Hathor has attributed to the Russell Lake Property
in its financial statements. There is no
such accounting value for the Russell
Lake Property in
Hathor’s financial statements. The $36.54 million value
referred to is for all of Hathor’s mineral property interests, including
its 40% interest in the approximate 113,000 acre Russell Lake Property, interests in ten
additional uranium projects that cover a total of approximately 773,000 acres
in the Athabasca Basin, and a 100% interest in more than 300,000
acres in the Eskay Creek region of British Columbia.
(x)
The Directors’ Circular incorrectly states that
Hathor’s proposed “spin-out” of the Eskay Creek Properties
will “include the issuance of
additional Hathor Shares resulting in further immediate dilution of in the
interest of Northern Continental Shareholders.” Hathor’s proposed “spin-out” will not
result in the issuance of any additional Hathor shares; it will however result
in every Hathor shareholder receiving shares in the newly-created
“spin-out” company.
(xi)
The Directors’ Circular states that Northern
Continental has contacted the relevant regulatory authorities with respect to
Hathor’s Offer’s compliance with Quebec securities laws. Quebec securities laws state in essence that if more than
2% of Northern Continental’s issued shares are beneficially owned by
residents of Quebec, or there are more than 50
beneficial shareholders in Quebec,
the Offer must be delivered to them in the French language. Hathor has
determined that approximately 1.1% of Northern Continental’s issued and
outstanding shares are owned by residents of Quebec, and is currently determining from
intermediaries the number of beneficial shareholders in that province. It
is Hathor’s intention to comply with all applicable laws and to bring to
the attention of all of the Northern Continental shareholders the outstanding
merits of Hathor’s Offer. Consequently, if it is determined that
there are more than 50 beneficial shareholders in Quebec, Hathor will deliver the Offer in the
French language and extend the Offer
in order to allow such shareholders to consider the Offer and to tender their shares. Hathor is in contact with
the Quebec
securities authorities (“AMF”) in this regard.
The
Offer
The Offer to Northern Continental
shareholders will remain open until 8:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on Thursday, January 3, 2008,
unless the Offer is withdrawn or extended
by Hathor.
Under
the terms of the Offer, Northern Continental shareholders will receive 0.40 of
a Hathor common share for each Northern Continental common share tendered and taken up by Hathor.
In addition to its
interest in the approximate 113,000 acre Russell Lake Property, Hathor has interests in ten uranium projects
that cover a total of approximately 773,000 acres in the Athabasca
Basin region of Saskatchewan
and Alberta.
This part of Canada
has the most prospective geology in the world to explore for high-grade,
unconformity-style uranium deposits.
Hathor
also holds a 100% interest in more than 300,000 acres in the
Eskay Creek region of British
Columbia. All shareholders will be able to
participate in Hathor's previously announced spin-out of the Eskay Creek
properties into a new listed company by way of a plan of arrangement and will
receive shares of the new company on a pro rata basis. The spin-out is expected
to occur in the first quarter of 2008 following the successful completion of
the Offer.
Hathor believes the
combination with Northern Continental will increase value for all shareholders,
and will offer the following benefits and opportunities:
·
With Hathor’s more than $20 million in
working capital, the combined company will be well capitalized to pursue
aggressive exploration programs, particularly on the Russell Lake Property;
·
the combined entity will have a larger and
more diversified portfolio of owned properties;
·
consolidating the exploration and development
of the Russell Lake Property should allow for significant cost savings and
synergies by eliminating the administrative and other costs associated with the
joint exploration and development of that property;
·
combining the two companies will significantly
enhance the ability to access the capital needed to continue to explore and
develop the Russell Lake Property;
·
combining the two companies will eliminate
the significant costs of maintaining two public companies, including audit,
legal and regulatory costs; Hathor estimates cash savings to be
approximately $300,000 per year;
·
enhanced access to capital will improve
Hathor’s ability to acquire additional properties and to fund the
exploration of those and of the other properties held by the companies;
·
combining the two companies will create a
larger company with a greater public market presence, leading to greater
coverage by investors and financial advisers, opportunities for an improved
market valuation, and enhanced liquidity due to the larger number of shares and
shareholder base; and
·
the combined entity will have a stronger
experienced management team and the ability to attract and retain the partners,
service providers, staff and others needed to advance the combined
companies’ projects.
Additional Details of the Offer
Northern Continental
shareholders wishing to accept the Offer must complete the Letter of
Transmittal which is being mailed to them and return it together with the
certificates representing their Northern Continental shares to Computershare
Investor Services Inc., the Depositary under the Offer. If Northern
Continental Shares are held by a broker or other financial intermediary,
Northern Continental shareholders should contact their broker or intermediary
and instruct them to tender the
Northern Continental shares to the Offer. Northern Continental’s shareholders are
strongly encouraged to read the terms and conditions of our Offer and the
additional information in the Offer and Circular mailed on November 19, 2007
and filed on SEDAR.
Note
to Shareholders Regarding The Offer
The information contained
in this press release is a summary only and does not constitute an offer to buy
or an invitation to sell, or the solicitation of an offer or invitation to
sell, any of the securities of Northern Continental or Hathor. The Offer is
made solely under the terms and conditions set out in the Offer documents and
is not being made to (nor will deposits be accepted from or on behalf of)
Northern Continental shareholders in any jurisdiction in which the making of
the Offer or the acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the laws of
such jurisdiction. The Offer documents contain important information that
Northern Continental shareholders should read carefully before making any decision
with respect to the Offer.
About Hathor
Hathor Exploration
Limited is a Canadian-based publicly traded mineral exploration company engaged
in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. Hathor is primarily
focused on uranium exploration in the Athabasca
Basin region of Saskatchewan
and Alberta, Canada and holds several large
claim blocks near some of the world's most productive uranium deposits. Hathor
has also obtained rights to several million acres with uranium potential in the
Hornby Bay
Basin of the North West Territories.
In addition, Hathor has
maintained its interests in the Eskay Creek precious metal mining camp
northwest of Stewart, British Columbia. The Eskay Creek mining
camp is considered one of the richest and most prospective geologic terrains in
North America and Hathor has assembled the
largest land position in this area.
For more information on
Hathor, its subsidiary Roughrider Uranium Corp. and their uranium projects,
please visit the company's website: www.hathor.ca or contact Stephen Stanley at 604-684-6707.
Hathor Exploration Limited
"Stephen G.
Stanley"
Stephen G. Stanley, Director
Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release and the Offer and Circular contain
"forward-looking statements" concerning Hathor and includes, among
other things, statements concerning the Russell Lake
Property. Generally, the words "will", "may",
"should", "continue", "believes",
"expects", "intends",
"anticipates" or similar expressions identify forward looking
statements. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is subject to known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. All factors
should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on
such forward-looking information. Hathor disclaims any intent or obligations to
update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of
new information, estimates or options, future events or results or otherwise.
This
press release does not constitute an offer to buy or an invitation to sell, or
the solicitation of an offer to buy or invitation to sell, any of the
securities of Hathor or Northern Continental. Such an offer may only be made
pursuant to an offer and takeover bid circular filed with the securities
regulatory authorities in Canada.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not
accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news
release
Cheers,
Natasha
Dutra, Office Manager
Hathor Exploration Limited
Suite 1910 -
925 West Georgia St.
Vancouver, BC V6C 3L2
T 604-684-6707
F 604-684-9277
www.hathor.ca