QUEBEC, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, Mr. Francois Duffar informed Cossette Inc. ("Cossette" or the "Company") of his decision to terminate his employment with the company as of June 1, 2009 pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement. Mr. Duffar will continue to serve as member of the Board of Directors of Cossette.
Cossette further announced that as a result of Mr. Duffar ceasing to be a full time employee of Cossette and in accordance with the Trust Agreement entered into between the holders of multiple voting shares, CIBC Mellon Trust Company and Cossette, the 2,039,921 multiple voting shares of Cossette beneficially owned by Mr. Duffar will be converted into subordinate voting shares, on a one for one basis, on August 31, 2009. The Trust Agreement and the Shareholders' and Voting Trust Agreement between the holders of multiple voting shares will terminate with respect to Mr. Duffar on August 31, 2009 since he will cease to own multiple voting shares of Cossette and any future resale by Mr. Duffar of his subordinate voting shares will no longer be subject to the mutual right of first refusal provided for under the Shareholders' and Voting Trust Agreement.
Upon the conversion of Mr. Duffar's multiple voting shares, the outstanding share capital of Cossette will be comprised of 4,294,258 multiple voting shares and 12,418,810 subordinate voting shares. The 4,294,258 multiple voting shares will then represent 25.7% of all issued and outstanding equity shares of Cossette and 77.5% of all voting rights. The voting rights attached to the multiple voting shares will continue to be instructed by Mr. Claude Lessard acting as Voting Trustee under the Shareholders' and Voting Trust Agreement. Such instructions of Mr. Lessard as Voting Trustee are based upon decisions of holders of multiple voting shares representing more than 50% of the multiple voting shares. Following the conversion of Mr. Duffar's multiple voting shares, Mr. Claude Lessard's multiple voting shares will represent 58.5% of the voting rights under the Shareholders' and Voting Trust Agreement and 41% of all voting rights. The other two remaining holders of multiple voting shares are Mr. Pierre Delagrave and Mr. Georges Morin, and following the conversion of Mr. Duffar's multiple voting shares, their multiple voting shares will represent respectively 20.7%% and 15.7% of all voting rights.
Cossette Inc. offers a full range of leading-edge communication services to clients of all sizes, including some of the most prestigious brands in the world. A customer-driven organization built around highly specialized business units, Cossette also offers Convergent Communications(TM), a unique working method that brings added value to the client by integrating various services offered by the Group, including strategic planning and research, advertising, media buying and channel planning, sales promotion, direct response, database and direct marketing, customer relationship management, interactive marketing and technology solutions, public relations, organizational communication and change management, sponsorship and alliance marketing, branding and design, ethnic marketing, business-to-business communications (B2B practices) and print and video production. Cossette has approximately 1,630 employees and offices in Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, New York, Irvine, Los Angeles, London, Moscow and Shanghai.
