Raise Production Inc. (TSXV: RPC) ("
Raise" or the
"
Company") and Cleantek Industries Inc.
("
Cleantek") are pleased to announce that they
have entered into an arrangement agreement dated July 12, 2021
whereby Raise and Cleantek will complete a business combination
pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations
Act (Alberta) (the "
Transaction").
Commenting on the Transaction, Cleantek's CEO
Jesse Curlett said, "We are excited to be taking Cleantek public
through an RTO of Raise and look forward to continuing to be able
to grow our hydro-sustainable business with a focus on ESG and
generating shareholder returns." Rick McHardy, Director of Raise
and proposed Director of the Resulting Issuer (as defined below)
added, "Cleantek's focus on delivering patented, sustainable
technologies to a broad customer base across North America, is an
excellent fit with Raise and we are thrilled to support this
transaction."
Summary of the Plan of Arrangement and Related
Transactions
Pursuant to the Transaction, the Company (which
is incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta)) will
remain listed on the TSX Venture Exchange
("TSX-V") and will carry on the combined business
of Raise and Cleantek under the name "Cleantek Industries Inc."
(the "Resulting Issuer") as a Tier 1 Technology
issuer under the policies of the TSX-V. The Transaction constitutes
an arm's length "reverse takeover" of the Company pursuant to
Policy 5.2 of the TSX-V. Raise will acquire each issued and
outstanding common share of Cleantek (a "Cleantek
Share") in exchange for the issuance of 58.3 common shares
of Raise ("Raise Shares") at a deemed issue price
of $0.03 per Raise Share. Following completion of the Transaction
but prior to the completion of any concurrent private placement as
discussed below, shareholders of Raise will hold approximately 15%
of the Resulting Issuer with shareholders of Cleantek holding the
remaining approximately 85%.
In conjunction with the entering into the
Transaction, Cleantek has entered into an agreement with a
syndicate of investment dealers (the "Agents") led
by Eight Capital, and including Echelon Wealth Partners, Cormark
Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. for a brokered private
placement offering of subscription receipts of Cleantek (the
"Subscription Receipts") on a best-efforts agency
basis at a price of $1.75 per Subscription Receipt for aggregate
gross proceeds of a minimum of $10.0 million (the
"Financing"). The Financing is expected to close
on or about August 31, 2021. The terms of the Financing are
outlined below under the header "Brokered Financing".
Overview of Cleantek
Cleantek is a clean energy technology company
focused on hydro-sustainability with operations across North
America. Cleantek has developed and commercialized its patented
wastewater dehydration technology, the ZeroE, which it rents to its
customers for use at gas processing facilities and on drilling
rigs. Cleantek's ZeroE technology separates wastewater into (i)
clean water which is evaporated and returned to the natural
hydrological cycle and (ii) concentrated brine which is disposed of
using traditional means. The ZeroE technology is powered by the
waste heat generated from the engine exhaust of gas plants and
drilling rigs. The key benefits of Cleantek's ZeroE technology
include:
- 90% reduction in
wastewater disposal volumes thereby substantially reducing
wastewater disposal costs for its clients;
- Each ZeroE unit
recycles approximately 10 million litres of water per year to the
natural hydrological cycle;
- Material
reduction in carbon emissions for its clients; and
- Each ZeroE unit
eliminates approximately 350 trucks per year from the local
roadways thereby improving safety on site and in the local
community.
In addition, Cleantek has a suite of patented
SolarHybrid and HALO lighting technology systems that service the
energy, industrial, construction, and agricultural markets.
Funds controlled by PillarFour Capital Partners
Inc., a private investment fund focused on technology investments
that enhance sustainability and reduce carbon intensity in oilfield
operations and is arm's length to Cleantek, hold approximately 41%
of the Cleantek Shares.
Lyle Wood, through Lyle Wood Contracting Ltd.,
holds approximately 18% of the Cleantek Shares.
Certain financial information in respect of
Cleantek for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the three months
ended March 31, 2021 are provided below:
|
Three months ended March 31,
2021(Unaudited) |
Assets |
$22,512,969 |
Liabilities |
$20,408,880 |
Revenues |
$2,436,686 |
Net Profit (Loss) |
$(764,232) |
Overview of Raise
Raise is a TSX-V listed company existing under
the laws of the Province of Alberta and is based in Calgary,
Canada. The Company is an innovative oilfield service company that
focused on the production service sector, utilizing its proprietary
products to enhance and increase ultimate production in both
conventional and unconventional oil and gas wells. Its suite of
patented pumping solutions, including HARPTM, REALTM and HARTTM,
are effective at up to 90 degrees in order to maximize drawdown,
pump efficiency and pump life.
Rick McHardy and Al Stark hold approximately 13%
and 11% of the Raise Shares, respectively.
Support Agreements
All of the directors and executive officers of
Cleantek and certain shareholders of Cleantek (collectively, the
"Cleantek Supporting Shareholders"), collectively
holding approximately 70% of the issued and outstanding Cleantek
Shares, have entered into voting support agreements (the
"Voting Support Agreements"). All of the directors
and executive officers of Raise and certain shareholders of Raise
(collectively, the "Raise Supporting
Shareholders"), collectively holding approximately 44% of
the issued and outstanding Raise Shares, have entered into Voting
Support Agreements. Pursuant to the Voting Support Agreements, the
Cleantek Supporting Shareholders and Raise Supporting Shareholders
have agreed, among other things, to vote all of their Shares in
favour of the Transaction at each of the special meetings of
holders of Cleantek Shares and Raise Shares to be held to consider
the Transaction, and to otherwise support the Transaction, subject
to the provisions of such Voting Support Agreements.
Board of Directors and Management of Resulting
Issuer
The board of the Resulting Issuer will be as
follows:
Richard F. McHardy,
Director
Richard F. McHardy has been a founder of several
public oil and gas companies and has extensive experience in
leadership roles. Mr. McHardy is currently on the board of Raise,
is the Executive Chairman of Spartan Delta Corp., was President,
Chief Executive Officer and a director of Spartan Energy, Spartan
Oil and Spartan Exploration. Previously, Mr. McHardy was the
President and a director of Titan Exploration Ltd.
("Titan"). In addition, Mr. McHardy has served as
a board member of, and as corporate secretary to, a number of other
public and private companies. Prior to founding Titan, Mr. McHardy
was a partner at one of Canada's largest national law firms, where
he practiced securities and corporate law. Mr. McHardy has over 26
years of experience in all aspects of securities and mergers and
acquisitions.
Paul Colucci, Director
Mr. Colucci is a co-founder and Managing Partner
at PillarFour Capital. Mr. Colucci is based in PillarFour Capital's
London, UK office and currently serves on a number of private
company boards, including as a board observer at Cleantek. Mr.
Colucci has over 20 years experience investing and advising in the
Energy and Technology sectors and was formerly the founder &
CEO of Dundee Corp's European Office (London) and Co-Head of the
firm's Global Energy Advisory group. Mr. Colucci began his career
as an investment banker in Canada covering the North American
Energy and TMT sectors before moving to London in 2006 to head the
European investment banking divisions of Stifel Nicolaus and its
predecessors, Thomas Weisel Partners and Westwind Partners.
Reginald Greenslade,
Director
Mr. Greenslade is an independent businessman and
currently a director of Spartan Delta Corp. Reg is a former
director and committee member of numerous public issuers, including
Spartan Energy, Spartan Oil and Spartan Exploration. Mr. Greenslade
has held senior executive positions with a number of public and
private issuers, including roles as Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Big Horn Resources Ltd., Enterra Energy Corp.,
Enterra Energy Trust, JED Oil Inc. and as President and a director
of Tuscany International Drilling Inc.
Al Stark, Director
Mr. Stark has served as a director of Raise
since September 2019 and was a founder and Vice President
Operations of Spartan from December 2013 until the sale to
Vermilion Energy Inc. on in May, 2018 for approximately $1.4
billion. He was also a founder and Vice President Operations of
Spartan Oil and Spartan Exploration through to their successful
sale transactions. He was also a founder and V.P. Engineering and
Operations and Chief Operating Officer of Titan until its
acquisition by Cantetic Resources Trust. Mr. Stark holds a
Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering and a Masters of Chemical and
Petroleum Engineering. He has over 29 years of experience in the
oil and gas industry. His experience includes roles in Production,
Reservoir and Exploitation Engineering as well as Drilling,
Completions and Field Operations. His early career was with Amoco
Canada Corp., Northstar Energy Corp. and Devon Canada Corp.
Phillip Knoll, Director
Mr. Knoll is currently a director of Cleantek.
Mr. Knoll has over 35 years of varied experience in the energy
sector, primarily related to energy infrastructure businesses and
the natural gas value chain and currently serves as an independent
director of AltaGas Ltd. Mr. Knoll is President of Knoll Energy Inc
and an independent director of Altagas Ltd. and Headwater
Exploration Inc. Mr. Knoll previously served as interim co-CEO of
AltaGas Ltd. and was CEO of Corridor Resources from 2010 to 2014.
Mr. Knoll was a director of AltaGas Utility Group Inc. from 2005 to
2009, which sold to AltaGas Income Trust in 2009. Mr. Knoll also
served as Group Vice President for Duke Energy Gas Transmission,
and Chair, Management Committee and President for Maritimes &
Northeast Pipeline. In addition, Mr. Knoll has also held senior
roles at Westcoast Energy Inc., TC Energy and Alberta Natural Gas
Company Ltd.
Chris Lewis, Director
Mr. Lewis is currently a director of Cleantek
and sits on the Advisory Board of PillarFour Capital. Mr. Lewis has
over 20 years experience in the utility and water sectors and is
currently Vice President of Smart Energy Water, a provider of SaaS
based cloud solutions to energy, water, and gas providers. Mr.
Lewis also serves on the advisory board of The Popular Company, a
market, consumer, and stakeholder analytics company. Previously,
Mr. Lewis served as COO of Attabotics from 2018 to 2020, a
manufacturer of robotic storage and retrieval systems used in large
facilities.
The management team of the Resulting Issuer will
be as follows:
Jesse Curlett, Chief Executive Officer
& Director
Mr. Curlett was a founder of Cleantek in 2010
and was the former VP Operations up until December 2019 when he was
appointed to CEO. Mr. Curlett has approximately sixteen years of
industry experience, previously working with Cenovus Energy Beaver
Drilling and Akita Drilling between 2005 and 2012. Mr. Curlett was
a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 Awards in the
Prairies.
Matt Gowanlock, President
Mr. Gowanlock is a co-founder and former CEO of
Apollo Energy Service, a lighting solutions company which was
acquired by Cleantek in 2018. Prior to, Mr. Gowanlock served as
President of Streamline Energy Services, General Manager at
Filterboxx Water & Environmental, Director of Field Operations
at Genalta Power and President of Aithra Projects. Mr. Gowanlock
has approximately eighteen years of management experience and holds
a Master Electrician Diploma from NAIT.
Susan Scullion, Interim CFO &
Corporate Secretary
Ms. Scullion currently serves as CFO &
Corporate Secretary of Raise Production. It is the intention of the
parties that Ms. Scullion will serve as CFO & Corporate
Secretary of the Resulting Issuer on an interim basis. Ms. Scullion
also serves as CFO of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., an energy
investment and merchant banking firm, a role she has held since
2018, and most recently the CFO of Sandstone Asset Management Inc.,
a wealth management firm based in Calgary. Prior to joining Raise
in 2013, Ms. Scullion spent nine years working with investment
firms in Calgary, including AltaCorp Capital Inc. as CFO, and
Mackie Research Capital Corp. as Senior Vice President.
Brokered Financing
In conjunction with the closing of the
Transaction, Cleantek has entered into an agreement with a
syndicate of Agents led by Eight Capital in respect of the
Financing. The Financing is expected to close on or about August
31, 2021. Each Subscription Receipt will be exchangeable into one
unit of Cleantek (each, a "Unit") without any
further action required on the part of the holder of the
Subscription Receipt and without payment of any additional
consideration, concurrently with closing of the Transaction and
will participate with all other holder of Cleantek Shares in the
Transaction. Each Unit shall be comprised of one Cleantek Share and
one half of one Cleantek Share purchase warrant (each whole
warrant, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant shall
entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Cleantek Share at an
exercise price of $2.25 at any time up to 36 months from the
closing of the Transaction; provided that if, at any time prior to
the expiry date of the Warrants, the volume weighted average
trading price of the common shares of the Resulting Issuer on the
TSX-V, or other principal exchange on which the shares are listed,
is greater than $3.50 for 10 consecutive trading days, the
Resulting Issuer may deliver a notice to the holders of Warrants
accelerating the expiry date of the Warrants to the date that is 30
days following the date of such notice.
The gross proceeds from the Financing will be
held in escrow pending the completion of the Transaction, which is
expected to close on or around September 30, 2021. If all
conditions to the completion of the Transaction are satisfied on or
before October 31, 2021, the net proceeds from the sale of the
Subscription Receipts will be released from escrow to Cleantek and
each Subscription Receipt will be exchanged for one Unit and the
holders thereof will participate with all other holder of Cleantek
Shares and Warrants in the Transaction. If the Transaction is not
completed on or before October 31, 2021, or is terminated at an
earlier time, then the purchase price for the Subscription Receipts
will be returned to subscribers, together with a pro rata portion
of interest earned on the escrowed funds, if any.
The Agents will receive a cash fee of 6% of the
gross proceeds raised from the Financing and broker warrants in an
amount equal to 6% of the number of Subscription Receipts issued in
the Financing, with each such warrant having a term of 24 months
and an exercise price of $1.75.
The net proceeds of the Financing will be used
for general corporate purposes, including capex related to the
build out of additional ZeroE and HALO lighting units and the
repayment of certain existing indebtedness of Cleantek. Completion
of the Financing is a condition precedent to the completion of the
Transaction. In the event Cleantek is unable to complete the
Financing on satisfactory terms, Cleantek and Raise will be unable
to complete the Transaction.
Cleantek and Raise intend to issue a press
release disclosing further information about the Financing once
such information is available.
The Transaction
Pursuant to the Transaction:
(i) |
subject to the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, each holder of
Cleantek Shares shall be deemed to have exchanged such Cleantek
Shares for Raise Shares and shall receive 58.3 Raise Shares for
each Cleantek Share held by such shareholder; |
(ii) |
each Cleantek option or purchase warrant holder entitling a holder
thereof to acquire one Cleantek Share, that is not exercised
immediately prior to closing of the Transaction, shall remain
outstanding and be adjusted in accordance with paragraph (i)
above; |
(iii) |
Cleantek and Raise will amalgamate and continue as one corporation;
and |
(iv) |
the Transaction shall be completed. |
Completion of the Transaction is subject to the
satisfaction of a number of conditions, including, but not limited
to: (i) completion of the Financing for minimum gross proceeds of
not less than $10.0 million; (ii) receipt of Court, and Raise and
Cleantek shareholder, approval of the Transaction; (iii)
satisfaction or waiver of all of the conditions to the closing of
the Transaction, other than those which shall be satisfied under
the Plan of Arrangement; (iv) receipt of TSX-V conditional approval
for the Transaction and the issuance of Raise Shares pursuant to
the Transaction; (v) the completion by the Company of a
consolidation of its share capital on a 58.3 for one basis; and
(vi) receipt of all regulatory, governmental and third party
approvals required prior to completion.
Eight Capital is acting as financial advisor to
Cleantek. Eight Capital has provided a formal opinion that, subject
to the assumptions and limitations upon which the opinion is based,
the consideration to be received by the Cleantek Shareholders
pursuant to the terms of the Transaction is fair, from a financial
point of view, to the Cleantek Shareholders.
After considering relevant matters including the
effects of the Transaction on the Raise Shareholders and other
stakeholders of Raise, the board of directors of Raise has
unanimously determined that the Transaction is in the best
interests of Raise and fair to the Raise Shareholders.
Further details in respect of the Transaction,
the Financing, Cleantek, Raise and the Resulting Issuer will be
included in the management information circular to be prepared and
filed with the TSX-V in respect of the Raise shareholder meeting,
and in subsequent news releases and other public filings.
A waiver is being sought from the TSX-V's
requirement for a sponsor to be retained in connection with the
Transaction.
Trading Halt
Trading in the Raise Shares has been halted as
of July 12, 2021 and will remain halted pending the satisfaction of
all applicable requirements pursuant to Policy 5.2 of the
TSX-V.
Reader Advisory
Completion of the Transaction is subject to a
number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSX-V
acceptance and if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval.
Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required
shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that
the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.
Investors are cautioned that, except as
disclosed in the management information circular to be prepared in
connection with the Transaction, any information released or
received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or
complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities
of Raise should be considered highly speculative.
This press release is not an offer of the
securities for sale in the United States. The securities have not
been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent
registration or an exemption from registration. This press release
shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an
offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any
state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be
unlawful.
The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way
passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither
approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. The TSX
Venture Exchange Inc. does not accept responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains certain "forward
looking statements" including, for example, statements relating to
the completion of the Transaction and Financing and the Resulting
Issuer's anticipated share capital. Such forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. The
results or events depicted in these forward-looking statements may
differ materially from actual results or events. In addition to
other factors and assumptions which may be identified herein,
assumptions have been made regarding and are implicit in, among
other things: receipt of regulatory approvals, the Company's
ability to complete the Transaction and Financing, the state of the
capital markets, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability
of the Resulting Issuer to successfully manage the risks inherent
in pursuing business opportunities in the mining industry, and the
ability of the Resulting Issuer to obtain qualified staff,
equipment and services in a timely and cost efficient manner to
develop its business. Any forward-looking statement reflects
information available to the Company as of the date of this news
release and, except as may be required by applicable securities
laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or results or otherwise.
Eric Laing, President and Chief Executive
Officer E-mail: elaing@raiseproduction.com
Raise Production Inc. Tel:
403-899-5880www.raiseproduction.com
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