ATS Responds to ISS Recommendation
CAMBRIDGE, ON, Sept. 10 /- ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. today
issued the following statement in response to a recommendation issued by
Institutional Shareholder Services Canada Corp. ("ISS") regarding the election
of directors at the company's upcoming annual general meeting:
"We disagree with the conclusions ISS has reached in evaluating the
incumbent ATS directors and the dissident slate," said Larry Tapp, Chairman of
the Board of ATS.
"In its report, ISS appears to have discounted the very real achievements
ATS has made over the past two years, which we believe will be reflected in
the company's financial performance and market value in the near term. As
recently as last month, ATS shareholders, including the dissidents, showed
their confidence in the current Board and management by investing $110 million
in ATS through an oversubscribed rights offering."
"The dissidents fail to provide a new vision for the future. Moreover, a
wholesale change of the Board at this time will set back the company's value
creation plan. It will delay the sale of the Precision Components Group. It
will delay the spin out of the Photowatt solar business. And it will delay our
objective of becoming a pure play automation company."
"Supporting the re-election of the ATS Board will enable the company to
continue advancing its business plan and to continue to expeditiously create
and deliver value to shareholders," said Mr. Tapp.
The Board of Directors urges shareholders to stop the unwarranted and
counter-productive exercise initiated by two hedge funds - Goodwood Inc. and
Mason Capital Management, LLC - and support ATS's value creation plan by
discarding any dissident proxies and vote FOR the reelection of ATS's current
directors using the management form of proxy. To ensure your vote counts,
shareholders should submit their proxy using one of the methods outlined on
the Management proxy form. The proxy bearing the latest date will be the one
counted. Proxies must be returned no later than September 11th at 10:00 am
Toronto (Eastern Standard) time.
A copy of ATS's current Annual Report and Management Information Circular
for the September 13, 2007 meeting can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and
at ATS's website at www.atsautomation.com. Requests for a hard copy of the
Annual Report or Management Information Circular can also be made to
Georgeson. For more information as well as instructions on how to vote your
proxy, call Georgeson, ATS's proxy solicitor toll free at 1-888-605-7636.
About ATS
ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. provides innovative, custom designed,
built and installed manufacturing solutions to many of the world's most
successful companies. Founded in 1978, ATS uses its industry-leading knowledge
and global capabilities to serve the sophisticated automation systems' needs
of multinational customers in industries such as healthcare,
computer/electronics, automotive and consumer products. It also leverages its
many years of repetitive manufacturing experience and skills to fulfill the
specialized repetitive equipment manufacturing requirements of customers.
Through its Photowatt solar business, ATS participates in the growing
solar energy industry and through its precision components business it
produces, in high volume, precision components and subassemblies. ATS employs
approximately 3,500 people at 24 manufacturing facilities in Canada, the
United States, Europe, southeast Asia and China. The Company's shares are
traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ATA. Visit the Company's
website at www.atsautomation.com.
For further information: Investors: Carl Galloway, Vice President and
Treasurer or Gerry Beard, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, (519)
653-6500; Media: Josh Pekarsky, Longview Communications, (604) 694-6030; Alan
Bayless, Longview Communications, (604) 694-6035
