CALGARY, AB–(Marketwired – November 29, 2016) – Marquee Energy Ltd. (“Marquee“) (TSX VENTURE: MQL) and Alberta Oilsands Inc. (“AOS“) (TSX VENTURE: AOS) are pleased to announce that they have reached a settlement with Smoothwater Capital Corporation (“Smoothwater“) in respect of Smoothwater’s prior opposition to the proposed acquisition of Marquee by AOS through a plan of arrangement involving Marquee, its shareholders and AOS (the “Arrangement“) and the completion of the short-form vertical amalgamation contemplated to immediately follow completion of the Arrangement to form “Marquee Energy Ltd.” (“New Marquee“).
In a standstill, nomination and voting agreement (the “Agreement“) entered into on November 28, 2016, Marquee, AOS and Smoothwater have agreed to the following terms:
- Smoothwater will immediately cease all actions related to the opposition of the Arrangement before any and all courts, securities commissions, the TSX Venture Exchange and any other governmental or regulatory authority.
- Smoothwater has withdrawn its requisition for a meeting of AOS shareholders and ceased all proxy solicitations in connection therewith.
- Smoothwater has agreed to a standstill during the period commencing as of the date of the Agreement through the earlier of (i) the close of the annual meeting of shareholders of New Marquee in 2018, and (ii) June 30, 2018 (the “Restricted Period“), relating to the solicitation of proxies, the initiation of shareholder proposals and the requisitioning of shareholder meetings.
- The annual and special meeting of AOS shareholders currently scheduled for December 28, 2016 will be extended to a date on or before February 28, 2017, at which meeting: (i) all holders of common shares of New Marquee (including former Marquee shareholders who became AOS shareholders on completion of the Arrangement) will be entitled to vote; and (ii) New Marquee will solicit proxies in favour of the election of the Nominees (as defined below) to the board of directors of New Marquee (the “Board“).
- Marquee, AOS and Smoothwater have agreed to support the appointment of the following nominees to the Board effective upon completion of the Arrangement: Stephen Griggs (the “Smoothwater Nominee“), William Roach (Chair), Robert Waters, Richard Thompson, Adrian Goodisman, Paul Moase and Leonard Sokolow (collectively, the “Nominees“).
- Upon completion of the Arrangement and during the Restricted Period, the committees of the Board will be constituted as follows:
- Audit Committee: Robert Waters (Chair), Paul Moase and Leonard Sokolow;
- Governance and Compensation Committee: Stephen Griggs (Chair), Robert Waters and Paul Moase;
- Strategy Committee: Adrian Goodisman (Chair), William Roach and Stephen Griggs; and
- Reserves Committee: William Roach (Chair), Adrian Goodisman and Richard Thompson.
- Smoothwater shall be entitled to appoint a replacement Smoothwater Nominee as a director to the Board from time to time during the Restricted Period, provided that: (i) Smoothwater at such time continues to own 5% or more of the common shares of New Marquee (not taking into account any share issuances by New Marquee after the completion of the Arrangement, including without limitation the share issuance by New Marquee to Smoothwater described below); and (ii) such replacement director shall be subject to the approval of a majority of the Board, acting reasonably.
- On closing of the Arrangement, New Marquee will reimburse a portion of Smoothwater’s documented expenses and issue to Smoothwater an aggregate of 1,000,000 common shares of New Marquee at a deemed price of $0.11 per share, being the trading price of the common shares of AOS on the TSX Venture Exchange at the close of trading on November 28, 2016 (the last trading day before announcement of the Agreement).
- Each of Marquee and AOS, on the one hand, and Smoothwater, on the other, released the other (and its affiliates, subsidiaries and representatives) from all losses, claims or causes of action arising on or prior to the date of the Agreement.
“It is in the best interests of Marquee, AOS and their respective shareholders to amicably resolve the dispute with Smoothwater and proceed with completing the Arrangement in a prompt manner,” said Richard Thompson, President & Chief Executive Officer of Marquee.
“AOS is pleased to be able to settle the dispute with Smoothwater and consummate the transaction with Marquee. The completion of the Arrangement will provide the combined company with the liquidity to act upon organic and strategic opportunities going forward,” said Binh Vu, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of AOS.
“New Marquee is excited to welcome and work with the Smoothwater representative to build a well-capitalized combined company positioned to create long-term value for all shareholders,” said Richard Thompson.
Marquee intends to seek a final order from the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in respect of the Arrangement as soon as reasonably practical and closing of the Arrangement is expected to occur shortly thereafter, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain additional customary closing conditions contained in the arrangement agreement between Marquee and AOS dated August 19, 2016, as amended October 11, 2016.
ABOUT MARQUEE
Marquee Energy Ltd. is a Calgary based, junior energy company focused on high rate of return light oil development and production. Marquee is committed to growing the company through exploitation of existing opportunities and continued consolidation within its core area at Michichi. Marquee’s shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol “MQL” and on the OTC marketplace under the symbol “MQLXF”. A corporate presentation and additional information about Marquee may be found on its website www.marquee-energy.com and in its continuous disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities regulators on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.
ABOUT AOS
AOS holds bitumen leases in the Athabasca oil sands region of northeast Alberta. The company’s head office is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and its common shares are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol “AOS”.