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Eat Well Group Appoints Dr. Bernhard van Lengerich as Strategic Advisor and Expands Credit Facilities

Dr. Bernhard Van Lengerich is a plant-based industry pioneer with experience and senior leadership positions at General Mills, Beyond Meat, Buhler, RJR Nabisco, Unilever, the German Institute for Food Technology and more

Eat Well Investment Group Inc. (the “Company” or “Eat Well Group” or “EWG”) (CN:EWG) (US:EWGFF) (FRA:6BC0) is pleased to announce Dr. Bernhard van Lengerich has been appointed to the Company’s Advisory Board to assist management with investment insight and general corporate strategy related to the Company’s plant-based investment portfolio.

Highlights

  • PhD in Food/Biotechnology
  • Leadership experience at General Mills, Beyond Meat, Unilever & more
  • Led the development and launch of the first Beyond Burger as Advisor, served on Beyond Meat’s board of directors
  • Appointed to help maximize portfolio companies’ foodtech & innovation efforts, ESG-driven opportunity identification, and technology trend mapping

Dr. Bernhard van Lengerich completed his PhD in Food/Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany and has served in senior leadership positions at some of the largest food and food tech companies in the world, including General Mills, RJR Nabisco, Unilever, Beyond Meat and the Buehler Group.

“We are honoured to welcome Bernhard to Eat Well Group. His experience and track record in not only major plant-based foods companies, but global consumer products, is unparalleled, and even more importantly, his values align with our mission. We look forward to working with him to assist management, help advise our portfolio companies, and review potential investments that have the ability to change our world for the better,” commented Marc Aneed, CEO & Director of Eat Well Group.

Dr. van Lengerich completed his PhD thesis in the field of Extrusion with summa cum laude recognition at the Technical University of Berlin. Following his dissertation, he worked for several notable organizations, such as Coperion, RJR Nabisco in the US and the Buehler Group in Switzerland. In 1994, Bernhard joined General Mills, Inc. (“GMI” or “General Mills”) in Minneapolis, where he led the Game-Changer Innovation Program and created a novel GMI Technology Venturing initiative, enabling faster and higher impact innovations. As Chief Science Officer and VP Technology Strategy for General Mills, he was responsible for Science and Technology Development across the company until his retirement in 2015, after over 20 years of service.

Bernhard joined Beyond Meat in 2016 in an advisory role as acting Chief Technology Officer and Head of Research and Development. During his time at Beyond Meat, he led the development and launch of the first Beyond Burger and subsequently served on Beyond Meat’s board of directors until 2021.

In addition, Dr. van Lengerich serves as board member of the German Institute of Food Technology, Bountifield International and he is an advisor to S2G Ventures, Brightseed Bio, Benson Hill, UKKO, and several other organizations in the US and Europe.

He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 150 patents, holds a Honorarium Professorship at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, teaching Extrusion Science and Technology, and he is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago. Bernhard has been an invited participant in discussions at the White House Office for Science and Technology Policy on global protein security under the Obama administration.

Bernhard’s focus remains on supporting innovative solutions targeted towards a sustainable food system focussed on supporting global food security initiatives. To help tackle this increasingly important issue, Bernhard founded the Seeding the Future Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private family foundation focusing on seeding and supporting impactful innovations that can help transform our food system. The foundation created and funds the Seeding the Future Global Food System Challenge which is hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists in Chicago (IFT) and awards up to $1M annually. In its inaugural year, the Challenge received over 900 applications from innovator teams around the world. Eat Well Group’s management team is highly enthusiastic and confident in Dr. van Lengerich’s and Seeding the Future Foundation’s ability to deliver on its mission to help improve our food system to become more sustainable and deliver safe and nutritious food that is affordable, accessible and attractive and trusted by the consumer.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has increased its available credit facilities with Cortland Credit Lending Corporation for up to an additional $6.5 million (the “Additional Credit Facilities”), for an aggregate availability of up to $40 million (the “Credit Facilities”). Concurrently, the Company extended the maturity date of the Credit Facilities from July 31, 2022 to October 31, 2022. The Additional Credit Facilities are expected to be used for further growth initiatives and general working capital. As of the date hereof, the Company has drawn an aggregate of $33.5 million of the available $40 million of Credit Facilities. The Credit Facilities continue to have a first ranking security interest in all of the Company’s assets.

To learn more, join Eat Well Group’s mailing list for important updates.

ABOUT EAT WELL GROUP

Eat Well Group is a publicly-traded investment Company primarily focused on high-growth companies in the agribusiness, food tech, plant-based and ESG (environmental, social and governance) sectors. Eat Well Group’s management team has an extensive record of sourcing, financing and building successful companies across a broad range of industries and maintains a current investment mandate on the health/wellness industry. The team has financed and invested in early-stage venture companies for greater than 25 years, resulting in unparalleled access to deal flow and the ability to construct a portfolio of opportunistic investments intended to generate superior risk-adjusted returns.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively “forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” “likely” and “intend” and statements that an event or result “may,” “will,” “should,” “could” or “might” occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company’s ability to draw on the Additional Credit Facilities, the intended use of proceeds of the Additional Credit Facilities and the repayment of the Credit Facilities at maturity. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. Forward-looking information is based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect. The Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances. However, forward-looking information is subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company, its investee companies and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

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