Augusta/HudBay – B.C. Securities Commission Policy Remains Unchanged

Over the summer, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) issued reasons for its previous decision that allowed Augusta Resource Corporation (Augusta) to maintain its shareholder rights plan after a hostile bid was made by HudBay Minerals Inc. (HudBay). The BCSC permitted Augusta's rights plan to stay in place for an unusually long period of 155 days after HudBay initiated its bid.

HudBay had brought an application to the BCSC asking for the shareholder rights plan to be cease traded under the public interest power of the Securities Act. HudBay argued that the shareholder rights plan was no longer serving any defensible purpose, and that Augusta's board was "just saying no" to the bid. Augusta's position, on the other hand, was that the best interests of the shareholders would be served if the board was given more time to complete the permitting process on a mine.