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Item 5.02.
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Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements
of Certain Officers.
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(d) Election
of Directors
On
January 23, 2019,
the board of directors (the “Board”) of Atlantic Power Corporation (the
“Company”)
appointed Danielle S. Mottor (née Powers) as a
director to the Board. As an independent director of the Company, Ms. Mottor will serve on the Board’s Audit Committee,
Compensation Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Operations and Commercial Oversight Committee. Ms.
Mottor will participate in the standard non-employee director compensation arrangements described under the heading
“Compensation of Directors” in the Company’s 2018 proxy statement, which was filed with the SEC on April
27, 2018. With the addition of Ms. Mottor, the Board will consist of six members, five of whom are independent and four of
whom have been appointed in the past four years.
Ms.
Mottor is a Senior Vice President of Concentric Energy Advisors, a consulting firm focused on the North American energy industry, and has had previous roles at ISO New
England, Navigant Consulting, XENERGY and New England Power Company. Over the course of her nearly 30-year career, Ms. Mottor has
developed expertise in wholesale and retail electric markets, transmission systems, generation asset sales and acquisitions, asset
valuation and plant operations. She was extensively involved in the design of the New England Forward Capacity Market. Ms. Mottors
holds a Master of Business Administration from Bentley College and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst.
(e) Compensatory
Arrangements of Certain Officers
On January 9, 2019, the Board approved,
subject to and contingent upon the provision of certain approvals by the Toronto Stock Exchange (the “TSX”), (i) an
amendment and restatement of the Fifth Amended and Restated Long-Term Incentive Plan of Atlantic Power Holdings, LLC, as amended
(the “5
th
A&R LTIP”), in the form of the Sixth Amended and Restated Long-Term Incentive Plan of the
Company (the “6
th
A&R LTIP” and, together with the 5
th
A&R LTIP, the “LTIP”),
(ii) a form of amendment to each of the outstanding notional share awards granted under the 5
th
A&R LTIP, including
those held by the Company’s named executive officers (the “Legacy Award Amendments”) and (iii) an amendment to
the Transition Equity Grant Participation Agreement between Atlantic Power Services, LLC and James J. Moore, Jr., dated January
22, 2015 (the “TNS Amendment”). On January 23, 2019, the TSX provided the requisite approvals with respect to the foregoing
amendments.
The Company adopted the 6
th
A&R
LTIP in order to update and simplify certain terms of the 5
th
A&R LTIP, including the process through which the
compensation committee of the Board (the “Committee”) and the Company’s chief executive officer determine grant
allocations, and to provide that the Company (rather than a subsidiary) maintains the LTIP. This amendment did not reserve any
additional shares for issuance under the LTIP, did not change or expand the type of awards issuable under the LTIP, did not provide
for any additional class of persons to be eligible for awards under the LTIP and did not extend the term of the LTIP. The 6
th
A&R LTIP eliminates the “target range,” “performance score” and “non-officer LTI pool”
concepts from the LTIP and instead simply provides that the Committee, taking into account the factors that it deems appropriate,
shall have the discretion to determine and approve a grant to each “officer group” participant, and that the chief
executive officer, acting within any parameters set by the Committee, shall have the discretion to determine and approve a grant
to each non-officer participant. The 6
th
A&R LTIP makes certain changes to the vesting schedule of notional share
awards compared with those issued under the 5
th
A&R LTIP, including that (i) such awards will vest on equal installments
on the first three anniversaries of their grant date (or of a date set forth in the applicable grant notice), rather than on the
first three anniversaries of the date the Company’s financial statements are approved, (ii) in the event a participant’s
employment is terminated (x) due to retirement after attaining the age of 62 and following the occurrence of a change of control
or (y) due to disability, his or her notional share awards will immediately vest in full and be settled as soon as practicable
thereafter, rather than continuing to vest on their original schedule, and (iii) in the event that the Company experiences a change
of control, unless a participant’s notional share awards either (x) continue to remain outstanding and the Company’s
common shares continue to be publicly traded on a national securities exchange or (y) are replaced with or converted into substantially
equivalent awards, including with respect to the vesting schedule, accelerated vesting terms, redemption terms and value of the
original notional share awards, that are in respect of equity interests that are publicly traded on a national securities exchange
(a change of control where such conditions are not satisfied, a “Non-Qualifying Change of Control”), then, all notional
share awards held by such participant will immediately vest and be settled in cash as soon as practicable thereafter, rather than
requiring a qualifying termination of employment to occur following such Non-Qualifying Change of Control. In addition, a number
of other immaterial updates and revisions were made to the LTIP, including, for example, revising the definition of a change of
control and good reason to more clearly comply with Section 409A of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, clarifying the scope of authorities
of the plan administrators and clarifying the treatment of notional share awards upon certain internal transfers or leaves of absence.
In connection with the adoption of the 6
th
A&R LTIP, the Board also approved the Legacy Award Amendments, in order to conform the vesting schedule applicable to notional
share awards granted under the 5
th
A&R LTIP in the event of a Non-Qualifying Change of Control of the Company to
those of awards granted under the 6
th
A&R LTIP. Specifically, in the event the Company experiences a Non-Qualifying
Change of Control, the notional share awards of participants who enter into a Legacy Award Amendment will immediately vest in full,
rather than requiring a qualifying termination of employment to occur following such Non-Qualifying Change of Control. In order
to comply with Section 409A of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, following such accelerated vesting, such notional share awards will
be settled in cash on the earlier of (i) their originally scheduled vesting date or (ii) the participant’s separation from
service (other than due to disability or retirement). The Company intends to enter into a Legacy Award Amendments with each participant holding an outstanding notional
share award under the 5
th
A&R LTIP, including each of the Company’s named executive officers.
The Company also entered into the TNS Amendment
with Mr. Moore, the Company’s chief executive officer, in order to conform the vesting schedule applicable to the performance-based
portion of Mr. Moore’s transition notional share award in the event of a change of control of the Company to those of awards
granted under the 6
th
A&R LTIP. Mr. Moore’s current agreement provides that his transition notional share
award will immediately vest in full and be settled as soon as practicable thereafter in the event Mr. Moore is terminated without
cause, resigns for good reason or dies. The TNS Amendment provides that, in addition, in the event the Company experiences a change
of control, following which Mr. Moore retires after attaining the age of 62 or becomes disabled, the performance-based portion
of Mr. Moore’s transition notional share award will similarly immediately vest in full. The TNS Amendment also (i) clarifies
that, in the event of a change of control, the redemption price of Mr. Moore’s transition notional share award will be locked-in
at the transaction price, although the redemption of such award will remain subject to Mr. Moore experiencing a qualifying termination,
and (ii) clarifies the language providing that upon a termination without cause or resignation for good reason, Mr. Moore’s
transition notional share award will vest in full.
The foregoing descriptions of the 6
th
A&R LTIP, the Legacy Award Amendments and the TNS Amendment are summaries and are qualified in their entirety by reference
to the full text of the 6
th
A&R LTIP, the Legacy Award Amendments and the TNS Amendment, which will be filed as
exhibits to the Company’s next periodic report.