Bissett and Templeton to From New Subsidiary

On August 11, 2000, California-based Franklin Resources, Inc., through its subsidiaries Templeton Management Limited and FTI Acquisition Inc., made an all-cash offer to acquire Bissett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. Bissett is a Calgary-based investment management company offering services to institutional, mutual fund and private clients, with total assets under management of approximately $5.7 billion. The cash transaction is valued at approximately $140 million plus a special dividend of $0.48 per share payable by Bissett to its shareholders from its retained earnings immediately prior to the completion of the offer.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP are acting for Franklin and Templeton, with a team which includes John Macfarlane, Chris Nixon and Alyson Goldman (Calgary) and Deborah Alexander, Linda Currie, Timothy Kennish and David Tetreault (Toronto). Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer led by Steve Cohen and Jay Reid are acting for Bissett and Doug Foster of Bennett Jones LLP (Calgary) is advising the principal shareholders of Bissett. Richard Shaw, Q.C., and Jason Dubchak of McCarthy Tétrault in Calgary represented the Special (Independent) Committee of the Board of Directors of Bissett. In-house counsel for Bissett involved was Jane A. Depraitere.