Dissenting on an acquisition

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I was wondering if any of you has any experience with the overall process of filing and being a dissenting shareholder on a proposed acquisition in Canada.

 

The way I understand it, you need to have the shares registered under your name and to send a very simple one page letter telling the company that you are dissenting to the proposed acquisition and requiring the company to pay you the fair value for your shares. They then have 10 days following the acceptance of the resolution by other shareholders to make an offer to dissenting shareholders. If there is no agreement between some of the dissenting shareholders and the company, the remaining dissenters go to Court where fair value will be determined by experts.

 

1- If you believe that the shares are worth more than what is being offered based on sound analysis, what is the risk to receive an offer lower by the company or the Court than the proposed acquisition price?

2- Based on my understanding, all costs are borne by the company. Is that true? Should you consider legal advice?

 

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