Toronto, May 30, 2007 – BAM Split Corp. announced today that income available for distribution for the six months ended March 31, 2007, was $9.7 million, an increase from $6.0 million for the same period in the prior year, as a result of the acquisition of additional Brookfield shares and an increase in the dividends received on the Brookfield shares. Operating expenses in the quarter were $0.7 million, compared to $0.1 million in the first half of 2006, as a result of the amortization of transaction costs on adoption of the new financial instruments accounting standards. For the half year ended March 31, 2007, the company paid dividends of $7.1 million to its Preferred Class A, Class AA Series I and Class AA Series III shareholders, compared to $5.9 million for the same period in the prior year. Dividends paid to Capital shareholders for the six months ended March 31, 2007 were $2.3 million, an increase from $0.1 million paid in the six months ended March 31, 2006.
The Board of Directors declared quarterly dividends of $0.390625, $0.309375 and $0.2719 per Preferred share Class A, Class AA Series I, and Class AA Series III, respectively, payable on June 7, 2007 to shareholders of record on May 22, 2007.
The net asset value per unit, consisting of one Preferred share and one Capital share, was $103.33 based on a Brookfield share price of $60.34 as at March 31, 2007. The net asset value per Preferred share is posted monthly on www.bamsplit.com.
STATEMENTS OF INVESTMENT OPERATIONS AND RETAINED EARNINGS
| |
Six months ended March 31
|
(unaudited)
$thousands |
2007
|
2006
|
|
|
|
| Income |
|
|
Investment
|
$10,447
|
$6,140
|
| |
|
|
Expenses
|
|
|
Operating
|
740 |
135 |
Income available for distribution
|
9,707 |
6,006 |
Dividends paid on Senior Preferred shares
|
(7,055) |
(5,886) |
| Income available for distribution on Capital and Class A shares |
2,652
|
120 |
| Change in unrealized appreciation of investment |
309,1778 |
179,013 |
| Results of investment operations |
311,830 |
179,133 |
| |
|
|
Retained earnings, beginning of period
|
945,835 |
593,195 |
| Results of investment operations |
311,830 |
179,133 |
| Dividends paid on Capital shares |
(2,339) |
(120) |
Financials instruments transition adjustment
|
1,532 |
- |
Retained earnings, end of period
|
$1,256,858 |
$772,208
|
Dividends per Senior Preferred share – Class A
|
$0.7813 |
$0.7813
|
Dividends per Senior Preferred share
|
|
|
– Class AA, Series I
|
$0.6188 |
$0.6188 |
– Class AA, Series III
|
$0.2719 |
$- |
BAM Split Corp. owns a portfolio consisting of 30,015,000 Class A Limited Voting shares of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. in order to generate quarterly fixed cumulative preferential dividends for the holders of the company's Preferred shares and to enable the holders of the company's Capital shares to participate in any capital appreciation of Brookfield Shares. Brookfield Asset Management Inc., focused on property, power and infrastructure assets, has over US$70 billion of assets under management and is co-listed on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges under the symbol BAM.
Sachin G. Shah, Chief Financial Officer, will be available at (416) 363-0061 to answer any questions on the company's financial results.
This news release contains forward-looking statements concerning the company's business and operations. The company cautions that, by their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty and the company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Reference should be made to the most recent Annual Information Form for a description of the major risk factors.