TSX.V Symbol: "WND"
OTCQX Symbol: "WNDEF"
Issued and Outstanding: 71,127,175
VANCOUVER, March 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Western Wind
Energy Corp. -- (the "Company" or "Western Wind")
(TSX Venture Exchange -- "WND") (OTCQX -- "WNDEF")today announced a
change in Board of Directors and Senior Management, following the
take up by Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners ("Brookfield
Renewable") representing 59% of the shares held by shareholders
independent of Brookfield Renewable pursuant to its all-cash offer
to acquire all of the common shares of Western Wind. As the
controlling shareholder of Western Wind, Brookfield Renewable has
agreed with the Board of Directors to an orderly transition to a
new slate of Directors and changes in Senior Management. Therefore,
each member of the board of directors of the company has resigned
and the following nominees have been appointed.
Effective immediately the board of directors of
Western Wind is composed of the following individuals:
- Edward C. Kress (Chairman,
Independent) - Mr. Kress is a corporate director and is a
chartered accountant. He has over 30 years of management experience
with the Brookfield group of
companies.
- O. Allan Kupcis
(Independent) - Dr. Kupcis is the Past-Chairman of the Canadian
Nuclear Association and was President of Ontario Hydro from 1995 to
1997 and its COO from 1993-1995.
- Harry Goldgut - Mr.
Goldgut is a Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management
Inc. and Chairman of its power and utilities platform.
- Jeff Rosenthal - Mr.
Rosenthal is the Chief Operating Officer of Brookfield
Renewable.
- Saul Shulman
(Independent) - Mr. Shulman is the Chief Executive Officer of
MLG Management Inc., a member of the Investment Committee of Tricon
Capital Group Inc. and a director of a number of other
companies.
The newly appointed board of directors of
Western Wind has replaced the existing management of Western Wind.
The following individuals have been appointed as officers of
Western Wind:
- Jeff Rosenthal (Chief
Executive Officer)- Mr. Rosenthal is the Chief Operating
Officer of Brookfield Renewable. He joined Brookfield in 2007 to oversee the management
of transmission and distribution assets in North America He
has a vast experience in leading the strategic initiatives that
foster development activities, in addition to supporting mergers
and acquisition opportunities for generation and transmission. In
his roles within Brookfield, he
has been responsible for ensuring al operations and development
activities are conducted with the utmost importance placed and
Health, Safety and the Environment. Previously, Mr. Rosenthal was
President and Chief Executive Officer of Oshawa Power and
Utilities. Mr. Rosenthal is a Professional Engineer and has a
Masters of Business Administration from the Schulich School of
Business at York University. He
was previously Chair of the Board of the Ontario Energy
Association.
- Lee Butler (Chief Financial
Officer)- Mr. Butler has been holding senior financial
executive positions for the last 25 years. He obtained his CMA
(Certified Management Accountants) designation in 1987 and
graduated from the University of Ottawa
with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) and a Bachelor in
Administration.
- Walter Di Cesare (Corporate
Secretary and Vice President, Legal) - Walter Di Cesare has over 25 years' experience
in corporate, commercial and governance law matters. Prior to his
role as Vice President legal services, Mr. Di Cesare was a senior counsel for the Federal
Department of Justice from March 2004
to March 2008 and in private practice
as a commercial law partner with Borden
Ladner Gervais LLP from 1987 until 2004. Mr.
Di Cesare has Bachelor of Commerce
degree from Carleton University and a
Bachelor of Law degree from the University of
Ottawa.
* * * * *
ABOUT WESTERN WIND ENERGY CORP.
Western Wind is a vertically integrated renewable energy
production company that owns and operates wind and solar generation
facilities with 165 net MW of rated capacity in production, in the
States of California and
Arizona. Western Wind further owns
substantial development assets for both solar and wind energy in
the U.S. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, BC and has branch offices in
Scottsdale, Arizona and
Tehachapi, California. Western
Wind trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "WND", and
in the United States on the OTCQX
under the symbol "WNDEF".
The Company owns and operates three wind energy generation
facilities in California, and one
fully integrated combined wind and solar energy generation facility
in Arizona. The three operating
wind generation facilities in California are comprised of the 120MW
Windstar, the 4.5MW Windridge facilities in Tehachapi, and the 30MW Mesa wind generation
facility near Palm Springs. The
facility in Arizona is the
Company's 10.5MW Kingman
integrated solar and wind facility. The Company is further
developing wind and solar energy projects in California, Arizona, and Puerto
Rico.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Western Wind Energy