The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. (NYSE:GAB) (the "Fund") is pleased to announce the completion of a rights offering (the "Offering" or "Offer") in which the Fund issued 2,816,524 shares of Series G Cumulative Preferred Stock (the "Series G Preferred") totaling $70,413,100. In the Offering, the Fund's existing 6.20% Series F Cumulative Preferred Stock (the "Series F Preferred") shareholders received one transferable right (the "Right") for each share of Series F Preferred held on the record date (June 22, 2012). Holders of Rights were entitled to purchase one share of Series G Preferred by submitting one Right plus $25.00 (the "Subscription Price") pursuant to the Offering. The Subscription Price was payable in cash, by surrender of Series F Preferred at the liquidation preference or any combination of cash and Series F Preferred shares.
All of the Series G Preferred shares subscribed for in the primary subscription and those subscribed for according to the terms of the over-subscription privilege will be issued on August 1, 2012.
702,193 Series F Preferred shares with a liquidation value of $25.00 per share, or approximately $17.6 million, were surrendered by subscribing shareholders to acquire Series G Preferred. The surrendered Series F Preferred shares will be retired. In addition, as previously announced, the proceeds raised will be used to redeem a portion of the remaining outstanding Series F Preferred.
The Series G Preferred will pay distributions quarterly and for the first twelve months beginning from the date of issuance (August 1, 2012) will have an annual dividend rate of 6.00% and thereafter will have an annual dividend rate of 5.00% for all future dividend periods.
The Fund has been approved to list the Series G Preferred on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE"). The Series G Preferred is expected to commence trading on the NYSE shortly.
The Board of Directors would like to thank all the full service brokers and financial advisers who assisted our shareholders, as well as all of our subscribing shareholders for their support.
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc. is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company with approximately $1.3 billion in net assets, after giving effect to the subscriptions from the Offering, whose primary investment objective is long-term growth of capital. Income is a secondary investment objective. The Fund is managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC, a subsidiary of GAMCO Investors, Inc. (NYSE:GBL), which is a publicly traded NYSE listed company.
SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Our disclosure and analysis in this press release contain some forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events. You can identify these statements because they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning. They also appear in any discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future actions, future performance of our products, expenses, the outcome of any legal proceedings, and financial results. Although we believe that we are basing our expectations and beliefs on reasonable assumptions within the bounds of what we currently know about our business and operations, there can be no assurance that our actual results will not differ materially from what we expect or believe. Some of the factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our expectations or beliefs include, without limitation: the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets; a decline in the performance of our products; a general downturn in the economy; changes in government policy or regulation; changes in our ability to attract or retain key employees; and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations. We also direct your attention to any more specific discussions of risk contained in our Form 10-K and other public filings. We are providing these statements as permitted by the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We do not undertake to update publicly any forward-looking statements if we subsequently learn that we are unlikely to achieve our expectations or if we receive any additional information relating to the subject matters of our forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
The Gabelli Equity Trust Inc.
Molly Marion / Carter Austin /
Laurissa Martire, 914-921-5070