People walk in the plaza of the TransAlta headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, April 29, 2014.TODD KOROL/Reuters
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps of between $100-million and $2.5-billion in market capitalization making news and on the move today.
Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (ACR.UN-T) says it has "received, considered and rejected" a demand from Sandpiper Group that the REIT do a substantial reorganization of the board, which includes majority control by Sandpiper's hand-picked nominees.
The REIT said it convened a special committee of the board to determine how to respond to Sandpiper's demands.
"While the REIT is committed to engaging with its unitholders and considering proposals to enhance unitholder value, the board has determined that Sandpiper's demands, and the unexplained urgent timing related thereto, are not in the best interests of the REIT," it stated.
The REIT said it chas entered into an agreement with its external asset manager, Agellan Capital Partners Inc., to internalize the REIT's asset management function.
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Liberty Health Sciences Inc. (LHS-CN) says it has secured locations for two medical cannabis dispensaries that are scheduled to open in December.
The dispensaries will be located in The Villages and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, "with more locations planned in the near future," the company said.
"The opening of Liberty dispensaries and the expansion of our delivery system to South Florida represent an important step in our Florida growth strategy as we look to provide patients with more options to access our pharmaceutical grade products," said CEO George Scorsis.
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Ballard Power Systems (BLDP-Q; BLDP-T) says it has received a purchase order from Nisshinbo Holdings to start a technology solutions program to assess the potential development of fuel cell stacks using a Non-Precious Metal Catalyst (NPMC) for use in commercial material handling applications.
The companies recently announced that they had collaborated on the development of the world's first NPMC-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell product.
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Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVD-Q; MPVD-T) says a recent sale of 463,000 carats generated proceeds of $27.1-million (U.S.), a 30-per-cent increase over the preceding sale proceeds "despite there being significantly fewer fancies and specials on offer in this sale."
The company said it was its largest single sale to date in terms of both total value and carats sold, "with carat volume reflecting strong production throughput and grade at the mine as well as the opportunity to fast-track just over 85,000 carats of smaller size diamonds into this sale."
Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49-per-cent participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kué diamond mine in the Northwest Territories.
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TransAlta Corp. (TA-T; TAC-N) says it has received formal notice for the termination of the Alberta Power Purchase Arrangements (PPAs) for Sundance Unit B and Unit C effective March 31, 2018.
The termination by the balancing pool was expected, TransAlta said, adding that it will work to ensure it receives the termination payment it believes it is entitled to.
"TransAlta believes that the cash flow generated by its portfolio of coal, gas and renewable assets in Alberta will be maintained following the termination of the PPAs," the company stated.
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Bear Creek Mining Corp. (BCM-X) says the tribunal hearing for the company's Santa Ana International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) arbitration claim has officially closed proceedings in the case.
The tribunal now has 120 days in which to issue the final award.
"We are extremely pleased to know that the tribunal will be in a position to issue its award in our Santa Ana Arbitration now that it has closed the proceedings," stated CEO Andrew Swarthout. "It has been a long and arduous process of negotiation and legal action to recover damages suffered by Bear Creek and its shareholders when the government of Peru issued Supreme Decree 032 in June 2011, extinguishing our investment in the Santa Ana Project."
The company maintains that Peru's actions were "an unlawful expropriation, were unfair and unjustified," the CEO stated.
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Cronos Group Inc. (MJN-X) is increasing its previously announced non-brokered private placement to $15-million from $10-million.
The company said the net proceeds will primarily be used for working capital and to fund its continued production capacity expansion.
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Superior Plus Corp. (SPB-T) has entered into an agreement to acquire the propane distribution assets of the R.W. Earhart Company, one of the largest independent propane distributors in Ohio, for $38-million (U.S.)
The purchase price will be funded by a draw on the company's existing credit facility.
"The acquisition of the propane distribution assets of Earhart will expand our existing propane distribution operations in the U.S. and demonstrates our commitment to grow the Energy Distribution business through the application of Superior's innovative, industry leading technology and services to propane companies acquired in Canada and the U.S.," said CEO Luc Desjardins.
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Alterra Power Corp. (AXY-T) has acquired Jawbone, a 40 MW wind development project in Kern County, Calif. that is fully zoned for wind-powered generation.
The company said it bought the product from Jawbone Wind Energy, LLC, which is principally owned by Philip and Daniel Rudnick, who will continue to work with Alterra to complete development of the project, the company said.
Alterra started construction of the project's main power transformer in 2016.
"We're extremely pleased to acquire Jawbone, representing one of the few viable opportunities to build new wind generation in California," stated CEO John Carson. "We expect to contract the facility over the next 12 months, and begin delivering power in 2020."
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