(1) Section 2.3 does not apply to an offeror in connection with an insider bid in any of the following circumstances:
(a) Lack of Knowledge and Representation – neither the offeror nor any joint actor with the offeror has, or has had within the preceding 12 months, any board or management representation in respect of the offeree issuer, or has knowledge of any material information concerning the offeree issuer or its securities that has not been generally disclosed,
(b) Previous Arm’s Length Negotiations — all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(i) the consideration per security under the insider bid is at least equal in value to and is in the same form as the highest consideration agreed to with one or more selling security holders of the offeree issuer in arm’s length negotiations in connection with
(A) the making of the insider bid,
(B) one or more other transactions agreed to within 12 months before the date of the first public announcement of the insider bid, or
(C) a combination of transactions referred to in clauses (A) and (B),
(ii) at least one of the selling security holders party to an agreement referred to in clause (i)(A) or (B) beneficially owns or exercises control or direction over, or beneficially owned or exercised control or direction over, and agreed to sell
(A) at least five per cent of the outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities, as determined in accordance with subsection (2), if the person that entered into the agreement with the selling security holder beneficially owned 80 per cent or more of the outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities, as determined in accordance with subsection (2), or
(B) at least 10 per cent of the outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities, as determined in accordance with subsection (2), if the person that entered into the agreement with the selling security holder beneficially owned less than 80 per cent of the outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities, as determined in accordance with subsection (2),
(iii) one or more of the selling security holders party to any of the transactions referred to in subparagraph (i) beneficially own or exercise control or direction over, or beneficially owned or exercised control or direction over, and agreed to sell, in the aggregate, at least 20 per cent of the outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities, as determined in accordance with subsection (3), beneficially owned, or over which control or direction was exercised, by persons other than the person, and joint actors with the person, that entered into the agreements with the selling security holders,
(iv) the offeror reasonably believes, after reasonable inquiry, that at the time of each of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (i)
(A) each selling security holder party to the agreement had full knowledge and access to information concerning the offeree issuer and its securities, and
(B) any factors peculiar to a selling security holder party to the agreement, including non-financial factors, that were considered relevant by that selling security holder in assessing the consideration did not have the effect of reducing the price that would otherwise have been considered acceptable by that selling security holder,
(v) at the time of each of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (i), the offeror did not know of any material information in respect of the offeree issuer or the offeree securities that
(A) had not been generally disclosed, and
(B) if generally disclosed, could have reasonably been expected to increase the agreed consideration,
(vi) if any of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (i) was entered into with a selling security holder by a person other than the offeror, the offeror reasonably believes, after reasonable inquiry, that at the time of that agreement, the person did not know of any material information in respect of the offeree issuer or the offeree securities that
(A) had not been generally disclosed, and
(B) if disclosed, could have reasonably been expected to increase the agreed consideration,
(vii) the offeror does not know, after reasonable inquiry, of any material information in respect of the offeree issuer or the offeree securities since the time of each of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (i) that has not been generally disclosed and could reasonably be expected to increase the value of the offeree securities;
(c) Auction – all of the following conditions are satisfied:
(i) the insider bid is publicly announced or made while
(A) one or more bids for securities of the same class that is the subject of the insider bid have been made and are outstanding, or
(B) one or more proposed transactions are outstanding that
(I) are business combinations in respect of securities of the same class that is the subject of the insider bid and ascribe a per security value to those securities, or
(II) would be business combinations in respect of securities of the same class that is the subject of the insider bid, except that they come within the exception in paragraph (e) of the definition of business combination and ascribe a per security value to those securities,
(ii) at the time the insider bid is made, the offeree issuer has provided equal access to the offeree issuer, and to information concerning the offeree issuer and its securities, to the offeror in the insider bid, all offerors in the other bids, and all parties to the proposed transactions described in clause (i)(B),
(iii) the offeror, in the disclosure document for the insider bid,
(A) includes all material information concerning the offeree issuer and its securities that is known to the offeror after reasonable inquiry but has not been generally disclosed, together with a description of the nature of the offeror’s access to the issuer, and
(B) states that the offeror does not know, after reasonable inquiry, of any material information concerning the offeree issuer and its securities other than information that has been disclosed under clause (A) or that has otherwise been generally disclosed.
(2) For the purposes of subparagraph (b)(ii) of subsection (1), the number of outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities
(a) is calculated at the time of the agreement referred to in clause (b)(i)(A) or (B) of subsection (1), if the offeror knows the number of securities of the class outstanding at that time, or
(b) if paragraph (a) does not apply, is determined based on the information most recently provided by the offeree issuer in a material change report, or section 5.4 of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations, immediately preceding the date of the agreement referred to in clause (b)(i)(A) or (B) of subsection (1).
(3) For the purposes of subparagraph (b)(iii) of subsection (1), the number of outstanding securities of the class of offeree securities
(a) is calculated at the time of the last of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (b)(i) of subsection (1), if the offeror knows the number of securities of the class outstanding at that time, or
(b) if paragraph (a) does not apply, is determined based on the information most recently provided by the offeree issuer in a material change report, or section 5.4 of National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations, immediately preceding the date of the last of the agreements referred to in subparagraph (b)(i) of subsection (1).