What happens if the business I want to buy is actually a co-operative, not a share corporation?

A co-operative is organized differently from an ordinary business corporation, and that difference matters a great deal to how you'd actually buy it. Ownership in a co-operative is generally structured around membership rather than proportional equity shares the way an OBCA or CBCA corporation works, so there typically isn't a straightforward block of "shares" for a single buyer to purchase and step into control the way there would be with an ordinary corporation.

Because of that, buying a co-operative's business is usually approached as an asset purchase — acquiring its operating assets, contracts, and goodwill directly — or through a more specialized transaction shaped by the co-operative's own governing rules and any legislation specific to co-operatives, rather than a standard share purchase agreement. Membership structures, voting rules, and how a co-operative can even dispose of its business can vary and need to be reviewed directly rather than assumed to work like a corporation.

This is genuinely a departure from the standard asset-versus-share framework that applies to most business purchases, so it needs bespoke review of the co-operative's own constating documents and rules. A business lawyer with experience in this specific structure should be involved before you commit to any approach.