Great-West Lifeco cautions investors regarding Okello Ltd’s mini-tender offer for shares in Ireland

TSX:GWO

WINNIPEG, MB, Aug. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Great-West Lifeco Inc. (“Lifeco”) has been notified of an unsolicited mini-tender offer by Okello Ltd, made to residents of Ireland, to purchase up to 50,000 common shares of Lifeco. The unsolicited offer represents a discount of approximately 39% to the closing price of the common shares on the TSX on July 29, 2024, the last trading day before the offer was commenced. The common shares do not trade on a recognized stock exchange in Ireland.

Lifeco does not endorse Okello’s unsolicited offer, has no association with Okello or its offer, and does not recommend acceptance of the offer. Okello’s offer has been made at a price below the current market price for the shares.

Mini-tender offers such as Okello’s seek less than 5% of a class of outstanding shares and so avoid many of the investor protections like disclosure and procedural protections applicable to most bids under Canadian law. Securities regulators have expressed serious concerns about mini-tender offers, including the possibility that investors might tender to such offers without understanding the offer price relative to the actual market price of their securities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has noted that some bidders make these offers at below-market prices “hoping that they will catch investors off guard if the investors do not compare the offer price to the current market price”.

Lifeco urges shareholders to obtain current market quotes for their shares and to consult with their broker or financial advisor in considering Okello’s offer. According to Okello’s offer documents, shareholder tenders are irrevocable and cannot be withdrawn once lodged. Further, tendering shareholders do not have the option to tender only a portion of their shares. Okello has reserved the right to purchase an additional amount of shares over and above 50,000 common shares, such additional amount not to exceed 2% of the outstanding common shares.

To read more about the risks of mini-tender offers, please review the Canadian Securities Administrators’ comments at https://docs.mbsecurities.ca/msc/notices/en/item/103061/index.do.

Lifeco requests that a copy of this news release be included in any distribution of materials relating to Okello’s mini-tender offer for Lifeco common shares.

About Great-West Lifeco Inc.
Great-West Lifeco is a Canadian headquartered, international financial services holding company with interests in life insurance, health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management and reinsurance businesses. We operate in Canada, the United States and Europe under the brands Canada Life, Empower, and Irish Life. At the start of 2024, our companies had over 32,250 employees, 106,000 advisor relationships, and thousands of distribution partners – serving approximately 40 million customer relationships. Great-West Lifeco trades on the Toronto (TSX) Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GWO and is a member of the Power Corporation group of companies. To learn more, visit greatwestlifeco.com.

For more information contact: Media Relations, Leezann Freed-Lobchuk, 204-946-4576, [email protected]; Investor Relations, Shubha Khan, 416-552-5951, [email protected] 

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