On April 13, 2016, Sprott Physical Silver Trust (the Trust) completed a cross-border follow-on public offering of 12,300,000 trust units (the Units) at US$6.09 per Unit, and subsequently, pursuant to the exercise in full of the over-allotment option under the offering, issued 1,8450,000 Units, for total gross proceeds of approximately US$86,143,050.
The Trust was created to invest and hold substantially all of its assets in physical silver bullion and provide a secure, convenient and exchange-traded way for investors interested in holding physical silver bullion.
It is managed by Sprott Asset Management LP, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprott Inc. The Units are listed on the NYSE Arca and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The offering was made simultaneously in the US and Canada through a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets and Morgan Stanley.
The underwriters for the offering in Canada also included Canaccord Genuity Corp., National Bank Financial Inc., TD Securities Inc., BMO Capital Markets, Scotia Capital Inc., GMP Securities L.P., Desjardins Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd.
Canadian counsel to the Trust and Sprott was Baker & McKenzie LLP, with a team that included Sonia Yung, Ora Wexler and Dennis Beker (securities) and Peter Clark and Lesley Kim (tax). US counsel to the Trust and Sprott was Seward & Kissel LLP, with a team that included Anthony Tu-Sekine and Joseph Nardello (securities) and Jim Cofer (tax).
Canadian counsel to the underwriters was Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, with a team comprising Robert Murphy and Chris Figel (securities) and Neal Armstrong (tax). US counsel to the underwriters was Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, with a team comprising Christopher Cummings and Rebecca Vasluianu (securities) and David Mayo (tax).