Released on December 27, 2017
Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA) issued decisions on December 22, 2017, with respect to the applications made regarding the Aurora Cannabis Inc. (Aurora) take-over bid of CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. (CanniMed).
The applications requested:
I. exemptive relief to shorten the minimum deposit period under the bid from 105 days to 35 days;
II. an order to cease trade the Shareholders Rights Plan of CanniMed;
III. that the companies that have entered into lockup agreements with Aurora, in respect of the bid, be treated as acting jointly and in concert with Aurora in making the bid; and
IV. a denial of Aurora’s ability under National Instrument 62-104 Take-over Bids and Issuer Bids to purchase additional securities of CanniMed, during the bid period.
The decisions were as follows:
I. trading will cease in any securities issued in connection with the Shareholders Rights Plan;
II. Aurora must amend, re-issue and file previous news releases by January 12, 2018, to include information that might affect shareholders decisions to accept or reject Aurora’s offer;
III. Aurora must amend the take-over bid circular to include the same information as included in the amended news releases by January 12, 2018;
IV. Aurora must distribute the Notice of Change to everyone the bid circular was required to be sent to, reflecting the changes to the take-over bid circular by January 12, 2018; and
V. other than some limited orders of confidentiality of parts of documents, all other requests were denied.
To review the Panel’s order visit www.fcaa.gov.sk.ca/In-the-Matter-of-Aurora-Cannabis-Inc-et-al.
Reasons for the decisions will be posted to the hearing webpage above in due course.
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For more information, contact:
Noel Busse
Justice
Regina
Phone: 306-787-8959
Email: noel.busse@gov.sk.ca