{"id":474635,"date":"2021-04-12T07:03:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T11:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/lembit-janes-announces-nomination-of-trustees-for-election-at-meeting-of-unitholders-of-sir-royalty-income-fund\/"},"modified":"2021-04-12T07:03:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T11:03:40","slug":"lembit-janes-announces-nomination-of-trustees-for-election-at-meeting-of-unitholders-of-sir-royalty-income-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/lembit-janes-announces-nomination-of-trustees-for-election-at-meeting-of-unitholders-of-sir-royalty-income-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Lembit Janes Announces Nomination of Trustees for Election at Meeting of Unitholders of SIR Royalty Income Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Canada NewsWire<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n TORONTO<\/span>, April 12, 2021<\/span> \/CNW\/ –\u00a0Lembit Janes today announced that he has lost confidence in the board of trustees (the “Board<\/b>“) of SIR Royalty Income Fund (TSX: SRV.UN) (the “Fund<\/b>“) and will therefore be nominating\u00a03 new independent trustees (the “Unitholder Nominees<\/b>“) for election at the annual general meeting of unitholders of the Fund to be held on June 29, 2021<\/span> (the “Meeting<\/b>“) to replace 3 of the current trustees (namely John McLaughlin<\/span>, Peter Luit<\/span> and William Rogers<\/span>). Mr. Janes is the Fund’s largest independent unitholder as he beneficially owns or exercises control or direction over 1,562,888 units, representing approximately 18.66% of the outstanding units and 15.10% of the votes that may be cast at the Meeting.<\/p>\n

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\n Reasons Why Change is Required
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\n <\/b>Mr. Janes has been a unitholder of the Fund since September 2010<\/span> and believes in the long-term value of the units. While he has no intention of questioning the good faith conduct of the current “Independent” Trustees, he believes change is required to better protect the interests of the unitholders other than SIR Corp. (“SIR<\/b>“). It is the hope of the Unitholder Nominees that a change of the Board will result in the restoration of distributions to unitholders in the near term, more transparency and unitholder engagement, and a more robust pursuit of plans to maximize unitholder value.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Below are some, and certainly not all, of the facts that have led Mr. Janes to pursue what he believes is the only course open to him to protect all unitholders:<\/p>\n

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\n There has been no change in the Independent Trustees since the Fund’s IPO in 2004<\/u>
\n <\/i>. The Independent Trustees have been in place since 2004 and regardless of whether they were truly independent in 2004, after 17 years it is simply time for a change.<\/p>\n

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\n Decision to suspend unitholder distributions for the benefit of SIR is concerning.<\/u>
\n <\/i>\u00a0On March 23, 2020<\/span>, the Fund announced that as “a result of the suspension of SIR’s dine-in operations, the Trustees of the Fund have temporarily suspended unitholder distributions until further notice.”\u00a0 Since that date, the trading price of the units has dropped significantly. As previously noted in our February 5, 2021<\/span> press release, it would appear that the Fund is the only TSX-listed restaurant royalty company to have abandoned its distribution commitments. The Fund received no consideration for this decision to defer distributions, and a year has gone by and there is no indication that distributions will be made anytime soon.<\/p>\n

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\n Conduct of SIR is clearly self-serving and strong independent leadership is required to protect unitholders<\/u>
\n <\/i>.\u00a0 Since the COVID-19 pandemic, SIR has acted in what Mr. Janes believes is a clearly self-interested manner to the detriment of the unitholders, and the Independent Trustees have not done enough to protect unitholders. For example:<\/p>\n