SM2 Holdings Ltd. Files Early Warning Report for Holdings of the Western Investment Company of Canada Limited

Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - December 11, 2024) - SM2 Holdings Ltd. ("SM2") announces that it has filed an early warning report under National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues in connection with the closing of a series of previously announced transactions by The Western Investment Company of Canada Limited ("Western" or the "Issuer").

On December 5, 2024 the Issuer announced the closing of its previously announced rights offering (the "Rights Offering") for aggregate gross proceeds of $6,296,946. Following the completion of the Rights Offering, the Issuer had 71,144,043 common shares issued and outstanding. Subsequently on December 9, 2024, the Issuer announced, among other things, that it had substantially completed its previously announced unit offering via a private placement (the "Unit Offering"). Pursuant to the Unit Offering, the Issuer issued 72,250,000 Units for gross proceeds of $28.9 million. $1.1 million of the aggregate total of $30 million remains outstanding and is expected to be closed on or before December 31, 2024. The Issuer has 143,394,043 common shares issued and outstanding, as of the date of this report.

Upon the Issuer's completion of the Rights Offering and the Unit Offering, SM2 (along with its associates and affiliates) directly or indirectly, exercise control or direction over 12,520,000 common shares of the Issuer, which represents 8.73% of the outstanding common shares of the Issuer. As a result of the completion of the Rights Offering and the Unit Offering, SM2's beneficial ownership of, or control or direction over, the outstanding common shares of the Issuer that was the subject of the most recent early warning report filed on October 1, 2024 has decreased to less that 10%. Therefore, this news release and the corresponding early warning report is being filed to be in compliance with 5.1(3) of National Instrument 62-104 - Take-over Bids and Issuer Bids.

SM2 does not currently have any plan to acquire or dispose of additional securities of the Issuer. However, SM2 may acquire additional securities of the Issuer, dispose of some or all of the existing or additional securities it holds or will hold, or may continue to hold its current position, depending on market conditions, reformulations, and/or other relevant factors.

A copy of the early warning report filed by SM2 will be available under the Issuer's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/233415