(TSX: MID.UN)
TORONTO, Oct. 15 /CNW/ - MINT Income Fund (the "Fund") is pleased to announce that it has filed a preliminary prospectus in connection with an offering of Rights to its unitholders to subscribe for Units (the "Rights Offering"). Three Rights will entitle the holder to purchase one MINT Unit. Each holder of Rights who has initially subscribed for all of the Units to which that holder is entitled under the Basic Subscription Privilege may subscribe for any number of additional Units at a price equal to the subscription price for each additional Unit, subject to availability. The directors and officers of the Manager intend to exercise all their Rights to acquire Units under the Basic Subscription Privilege.
The subscription price, record date and Rights expiration date have not yet been determined. The Fund will make a further announcement in respect of these matters subsequent to the filing of the final prospectus. The Rights Offering is subject to receipt of all regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The net proceeds of the Rights Offering will be invested by the Fund in accordance with the investment objectives of the Fund.
The Fund's investment objectives are to provide holders of its Units with (i) a high level of sustainable income distributed monthly, and (ii) a cost-effective method of reducing the risk of investing in high income securities. The Fund diligently selects and actively manages a diversified portfolio of high income securities across a broad range of specialized investment vehicles in various industries and geographic regions. On an annualized basis, the current distribution rate of $1.20 per Unit represents a cash-on-cash yield of approximately 10.1% based on a Unit market price of $11.83 as at October 4, 2007. The Fund anticipates that this distribution rate of $1.20 per Unit will be maintained over the next 12 months. As at August 31, 2007, the annualized returns for the Fund (assuming the reinvestment of distributions) were 18.6% for 3 years, 22.2% for 5 years, 13.6% since inception and 11.1% for the year-to-date period.
Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking information, including statements regarding cash-on-cash yield. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause estimates to differ materially from the expectations expressed, including the risk that the per Unit distributions may decrease below the amount used in calculating the cash-on-cash yield, which could occur for various reasons beyond the control of the Fund such as a decrease in the distributions paid by the issuers of securities included in the Fund's portfolio or a change in general economic conditions. The forward-looking information contained in this press release constitutes the Fund's current estimate, as of the date of this press release, with respect to the matters covered hereby. Investors and others should not assume that any forward-looking statement contained in this press release represents the Fund's estimate as of any date other than the date of this press release.