EDMONTON, Alberta, Jan. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Alcanna Inc. (the “Company” or “Alcanna”) (TSX: CLIQ) today announced that it has promoted five individuals to oversee the Company’s liquor division. Taranvir (Tank) Vander is now President of Liquor responsible for the operations of all Alcanna liquor brands. Mr. Vander was previously CEO of the Canadian Liquor Retailers Alliance Limited Partnership (the “Alliance”) which owned Alcanna’s discount banners Ace, Solo and Deep Discount Liquor. In addition, Karan Vander, Nab Dhaliwal and Jerry Dhaliwal have each been promoted to Vice President roles, responsible for operations, merchandising, and marketing & purchasing, respectively, for all Alcanna liquor brands; roles similar to their roles within the Alliance. Don Bobey has been named Chief Operating Officer of Liquor for all of Alcanna’s liquor brands – the same role he held with the Alliance.
To align Mr. Vander, Karan Vander, Nab Dhaliwal and Jerry Dhaliwals’ interests in the Alliance (held via their indirect ownership in Ace Liquor Corporation (“Ace”)) with that of all Alcanna shareholders, Ace will exchange its units in the Alliance for 2,927,928 common shares in the capital of Alcanna (the “Shares”). The transaction has been valued at $13 million, with Alcanna issuing the Shares at a price of $4.44 per Share, which represents the five-day volume-weighted average price of trading of the Shares prior to January 22, 2020. Following the completion of this transaction, Alcanna will own, itself or through wholly owned subsidiaries, 100% of the Alliance and Ace will own approximately 7.3% of the Shares of Alcanna.
“This transaction is an indication of the confidence that Tank Vander and his team have in the Company and all the stores in all our markets and across all our brands. To exchange their units in the Alliance, a discount banner they know, into shares of Alcanna is testament to their belief in the tremendous opportunities for our company,” said James Burns, Alcanna’s Vice Chair and CEO.
Alcanna entered the discount liquor market in 2018 with its own banner, Deep Discount Liquor. On January 14, 2019, Ace joined the Alliance with the Alliance’s acquisition of 12 opened and 3 unopened stores from Ace in consideration for an approximately 29% partnership interest in the Alliance. Alcanna had previously contributed 50 stores to the Alliance. The purpose of the formation of the Alliance and the acquisition of the Ace stores was to develop and grow a discount liquor business in the Province of Alberta.
“My partners in Ace and I are excited to be able to participate in all of Alcanna and be totally aligned with our now fellow shareholders in the company,” added Tank Vander. “Obviously, we would not have agreed to this transaction if we didn’t have a strong belief in the future of the industry in general and Alcanna especially.”
Over the course of 2019, Mr. Vander led the successful development of the Alliance’s discount liquor business, which included the re-branding of stores contributed to the Alliance by an Alcanna subsidiary and the acquisition of 28 stores and 2 leased locations from Solo Liquor via a court-appointed receiver.
The Board of Directors of the Company has reviewed and unanimously approved the terms of the Exchange Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby.
The completion of the transaction is subject to receiving approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to list the Shares to be issued to Ace.
Concurrent with the closing of the transaction, Ace and Alcanna will enter into a lock-up agreement pursuant to which Ace will agree not to dispose of any of the Shares for a period of two years, subject to certain exceptions.
ABOUT ALCANNA INC.
Alcanna is one of the largest private sector retailers of alcohol in North America and the largest in Canada by number of stores – operating 254 locations in Alberta, British Columbia and Alaska. The Company also operates cannabis retail stores under the “Nova Cannabis” brand, with locations in the Provinces of Alberta and Ontario. With revenues in excess of $700 million per year, Alcanna processes over 20 million individual retail transactions of beverage alcohol and cannabis.
Alcanna’s common shares and convertible subordinated debentures trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols “CLIQ” and “CLIQ.DB”, respectively.
Additional information about Alcanna Inc. is available at www.sedar.com and the Company’s website at www.alcanna.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “believe”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “will”, “should”, “plan”, “expect” and similar words suggesting future events or future performance. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact contained in this news release are forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the anticipated closing of the transaction to acquire Ace’s partnership interests in the Alliance in consideration for the Shares, the TSX’s approval of the listing of the Shares and the entering into of the lock-up agreement. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements, and the assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are made, are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements included in this news release. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual performance and financial results to differ materially from any estimates, forecasts or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the risk that the necessary approval from the TSX will not be obtained, and the other factors described in the Company’s public filings (including the Annual Information Form) available at http://www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof. Except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation, Alcanna does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
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