Mini-tender offer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A mini-tender offer is an offer to acquire a company's shares directly from current investors in an amount less than the minimum amount where one must register a tender offer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The practice is most associated with a company called TRC Capital, which in the early 21st century constantly made mini tender offers at below market prices in an attempt to trick some people into selling their stock for less that it was worth.
[edit] Mini-tender offers and TRC Capital
TRC Capital was founded by a Canadian securities lawyer. Through the Canadian stock exchange, he began submitting paperwork for mini-tender offers for various companies. For example, if a company's stock was selling for 20 dollars a share he would send out letters saying that he would purchase it for 18 dollars a share hoping some people wouldn't check the current price of their stock before selling it. This hope is based on the fact that all traditional tender offers are usually for a premium above the current stock price.
TRC Capital has since made mini-tender offers for hundreds of companies in this way, although the company does not disclose if any of its actions were profitable. Generally, each time TRC Capital initiates a mini-tender offer, if the target company finds out about it, it MUST issue a press release with its viewpoint on the topic.
