Press Release
TORONTO, Oct. 24, 2023 — SolarBank Corporation (CSE: SUNN; OTC: SUUNF; FSE: GY2) (“SolarBank” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into share purchase agreements (the “SPAs”) dated October 23, 2023 to acquire control of two corporations that hold solar projects located in Ontario with a combined capacity of 2.5 MW (the “Projects”) for consideration of 278,875 common shares (the “Consideration Shares”) of SolarBank (the “Transaction”). The corporations OFIT GM Inc. and OFIT RT Inc. (the “Purchased Entities”) have been operating the Projects since 2017.
“We are strategically acquiring solar power projects as an independent power producer to drive steady growth,” said Dr. Richard Lu, Chief Executive Officer at SolarBank. “Our focus on sustainability ensures a responsible approach to energy. With each project, we are contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable future, one step at a time.”
Pursuant to the terms of the SPAs, SolarBank will acquire 49.9% ownership of OFIT RT Inc. where Whitesand First Nation owns the remaining shares of OFIT RT Inc. The Company will also acquire 49.9% ownership of OFIT GM Inc. where the Town of Kapuskasing owns the remaining shares of OFIT GM Inc. The closing of the Transaction is subject to certain customary conditions including the receipt of consents from lenders to the Purchased Entities, landlords for the leases of the solar sites and shareholders of the Purchased Entities.
Dr. Richard Lu, the President & Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company is indirectly a shareholder of the Purchased Entities and will indirectly receive one-third of the Consideration Shares. As a result, the Transaction is considered a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). The Transaction is exempt from the formal valuation requirements, the minority shareholder approval and information circular requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, as neither the fair market value of the consideration to be issued under the Transaction nor the consideration to be paid by the insiders will exceed 25% of the Company’s market capitalization. The Company will not file a material change report related to this Transaction more than 21 days before the expected closing of the Transaction as required by MI 61-101 since the Company wishes to close on an expedited basis for sound business reasons. The securities of the Company that will be acquired by the related party will be acquired pursuant to an exemption from the prospectus requirement in section 2.12 of National Instrument 45-106.
About SolarBank Corporation
SolarBank Corporation is an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and owner focusing on distributed and community solar projects in Canada and the USA. The Company develops solar projects that sell electricity to utilities, commercial, industrial, municipal and residential off-takers. The Company maximizes returns via a diverse portfolio of projects across multiple leading solar markets including projects with utilities, host off-takers, community solar, and virtual net metering projects. The Company has a potential development pipeline of over one gigawatt and has developed renewable and clean energy projects with a combined capacity of over 70 megawatts built. To learn more about SolarBank, please visit www.solarbankcorp.com.
For further information: SolarBank Corporation, Tracy Zheng, Email: tracy.zheng@solarbankcorp.com, Phone: 416.494.9559
ILR4