Thousands of replaced railway ties sit stockpiled near Dunmore in this News file photo. Cielo, which had once planned a biodiesel plant in the are before switching focus to one near Carseland, is facing a shareholder challenge that seeks to replace the company's board.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Cielo Waste Solutions, which shifted plans away from building a biodiesel refinery near Medicine Hat last year before changing course again this month, now faces a challenge from a major shareholder which wants to replace its entire board.
That, say Cielo officials, is due to a disagreement about strategic direction, which it argued would add long-term value to the company.
Expander Energy applied this week for regulators to fix a shareholder meeting date and is proposing an alternate slate of candidates to gain control of the Cielo board.
“Expander wants to replace the incumbents with the nominees as quickly as possible to ensure that the business and affairs of Cielo are managed in the best interests of all stakeholders,” reads its release. It outlines that such a meeting is tentatively slated for June, but two meetings set for late 2024 were both postposed and haven’t yet occurred.
“The requisition eliminates the risk that Cielo will cancel its next shareholders’ meeting.”
Cielo officials publicized the request in its own release stating that Expander, which owns 5 per cent of Cielo stock, has a disagreement with “engaging in a turnaround strategy and the board remains confident in the company’s long-term potential.”
“The company appreciates ongoing support from our shareholders,” said Cielo CEO Ryan Jackson. “It is unfortunate that Expander has chosen to escalate its demands in this manner rather than engage in constructive dialogue with the company, despite our attempts to do so.”
Expander and Cielo announced a deal two years ago to partner on fuel-production technology, and last year announced that would be engaged as Cielo sought to buy into and upgrade the Rocky Mountain Fuels plant in Carseland, Alta.
That led the company to cancel long-stated plans to use its own process at a new facility planned for near Dunmore. It would convert scrapped railway ties into biodiesel.
On Tuesday it announced that it would forego the purchase of the Rocky Mountain Clean Fuels gas-to-liquids plant southeast of Calgary, and instead seek to set up a railway tie-to-green-hydrogen facility in British Columbia.
The next day, Expander Energy moved to force a special shareholders meeting and will propose a resolution expanding the four-person board to five positions.
Its nominees include Rocky Mountain Fuels president and current Cielo board member James H. Ross, former Expander president G. Steven Price, two other directors at Expander and one from Rocky Mountain.
Cielo’s current directors include Ross, Jackson and former federal politician Peter MacKay.
