Asa to purchase shares, asks shareholders to reject Laxey nominees

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., March 31 - Asa Ltd. announced that its board of directors authorized a tender offer to purchase up to 25% of the company's outstanding shares.

The purchase price will be 98% of net asset value on the date the tender offer expires.

Subsequent annual tender offers for 10% of Asa's outstanding share have been approved for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, a company news release stated.

The purchase price for each of the subsequent offers also will be 98% of net asset value on the date the tender offer expires.

According to the release, Asa's board recently authorized the company to repurchase its shares in the open market at discounts from net asset value.

Asa said it is opposed to a major tender offer proposed by a group of dissident shareholders managed or advised by Laxey Partners Ltd. That plan calls for unlimited semiannual tender offers regardless of discount levels.

Chief executive officer Robert Irwin said Laxey's plan would negatively impact Asa's expense ratio and investment performance and would also have an adverse tax effect on many Asa shareholders due to the company's status as a passive foreign investment company.

Irwin said the same concerns are present in Asa's approved tender offer but to a "significantly lesser degree."

Asa's board urged shareholders to reject Laxey's nominees for election to the board at its 2008 annual meeting on April 8.

Buffalo-based Asa is an employee-owned investment management company.

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