The Securities Commission has granted an exemption to a corporation from the requirement to file issuer bid documents electronically through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR). The corporation, governed by the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, is not a reporting issuer in any Canadian jurisdiction and is not in default of any securities legislation.
The corporation intends to make an issuer bid in multiple Canadian provinces but, without the exemption, would be required to file the bid documents electronically as per National Instrument 13-101 (NI 13-101). The corporation has more than 50 beneficial owners of the securities class subject to the bid and cannot rely on the exemption in section 4.9 of NI 62-104. It plans to rely on section 4.11 of NI 62-104 in Manitoba and Quebec.
The exemption was granted on the condition that the corporation files the issuer bid documents in the specified jurisdictions as directed by the staff of the Alberta Securities Commission. The decision is based on the corporation meeting the test set out in the relevant legislation, which includes National Instrument 13-101 and National Instrument 62-104 regarding take-over bids and issuer bids. The Alberta Securities Commission is the principal regulator for this application, and the decision also reflects the agreement of the securities regulatory authority in Ontario.