Under the terms of the settlement with the CRA of the transfer pricing dispute relating to the 2005 to 2010 taxation years (the “CRA Settlement”), income earned outside of Canada by the Company’s foreign subsidiaries will not be subject to tax in Canada under transfer pricing rules. The CRA Settlement principles apply to all taxation years after 2010 subject to there being no material change in facts or change in law or jurisprudence. The CRA is not restricted under the terms of the CRA Settlement from issuing reassessments on some basis other than transfer pricing which could result in some or all of the income of the Company’s foreign subsidiaries being subject to tax in Canada.
It is not known or determinable by the Company when the currently ongoing audits by CRA of international and domestic transactions will be completed, or whether reassessments will be issued, or the basis, quantum or timing of any such potential reassessments, and it is therefore not practicable for the Company to estimate the financial effect, if any, of those ongoing audits.
From time to time there may also be proposed legislative changes to law or outstanding legal actions that may have an impact on the current or prior periods, the outcome, applicability and impact of which is also not known or determinable by the Company.
General
By their nature, contingencies will only be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur. The assessment of contingencies inherently involves the exercise of significant judgment and estimates of the outcome of future events. If the Company is unable to resolve any of these matters favorably, there may be a material adverse impact on the Company’s financial performance, cash flows or results of operations. In the event that the Company’s estimate of the future resolution of any of the foregoing matters changes, the Company will recognize the effects of the change in its consolidated financial statements in the appropriate period relative to when such change occurs.
Share Capital
During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company received proceeds of $11 million from the exercise of 493,129 share purchase options at a weighted average exercise price of Cdn$28.76 per option. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company received proceeds of $8 million from the exercise of 398,880 share purchase options at a weighted average exercise price of Cdn$24.96 per option.
During the year ended December 31, 2022, the Company released 87,838 RSUs, as compared to 116,880 RSUs during the comparable period of the previous year.
The Company has implemented a dividend reinvestment plan (“DRIP”) whereby shareholders can elect to have dividends reinvested directly into additional Wheaton common shares. During the three months ended December 31, 2022, there were 192,351 common shares issued under the DRIP (twelve months - 873,607). During the three months ended December 31, 2021, there were 254,600 common shares issued under the DRIP (twelve months - 889,798).
As of March 9, 2023, there were 452,318,526 outstanding common shares, 1,477,000 share purchase options and 349,916 restricted share units. The 10,000,000 share purchase warrants expired on February 28, 2023 unexercised.
At the Market Equity Program
The Company has established an at-the-market equity program (the “ATM Program”) that allows the Company to issue up to $300 million worth of common shares from treasury (“Common Shares”) to the public from time to time at the Company’s discretion and subject to regulatory requirements. The ATM Program will be effective until the date that all Common Shares available for issue under the ATM Program have been issued or the ATM Program is terminated prior to such date by the Company or the agents.
Wheaton intends that the net proceeds from the ATM Program, if any, will be available as one potential source of funding for stream acquisitions and/or other general corporate purposes including the repayment of indebtedness. As at December 31, 2022, the Company has not issued any shares under the ATM program.
Financial Instruments
The Company owns equity interests in several companies as long-term investments (see page 10 of this MD&A) and therefore is inherently exposed to various risk factors including currency risk, market price risk and liquidity risk.
In order to mitigate the effect of short-term volatility in gold, silver and palladium prices, the Company will occasionally enter into forward contracts in relation to gold, silver and palladium deliveries that it is highly confident will occur within a given quarter. The Company does not hedge its long-term exposure to commodity prices. The Company has not used derivative financial instruments to manage the risks associated with its operations and therefore, in the normal course of business, it is inherently exposed to currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.
WHEATON PRECIOUS METALS 2022 ANNUAL REPORT - MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS [36]