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TORONTO – The planned development of Northern Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” mineral belt got a potential boost on Wednesday when an appeals court ruled that the small junior mining firm should not have exclusive access to a transportation corridor.

The decision opens the door to construction of the north-south road to the Ring, which is thought to contain about $60 billion of chromite and other minerals. The Ontario government supports a road, partly since it would link up with remote First Nations communities.

In 2009, a Toronto-based company called KWG Resources Inc. staked more than 200 mining claims going from the Ring of fireside all the way down to the CN rail line in Exton, Ont. Effectively, this gave KWG treatments for an important 340-kilometre access path to the mineral belt.

U.S. mining company Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. was keen to develop a road as much as the Ring that will cross a lot more than 100 of KWG’s claims. Nevertheless its tries to achieve this were thwarted.

In 2013, the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner rejected Cliffs’ request an “easement” on KWG’s states build a road, saying it might negatively modify the claims.

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However, a divisional court overturned that decision last year. And on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the divisional court’s ruling. That opens the door for a road.

“What the appeals court is saying is that you can’t hold mineral development hostage, in this way, by staking in the access routes and holding them,” said Alan Coutts, leader of Noront Resources Ltd., which owns vast chromite assets within the Ring of fireside.

The appeals court said hello didn’t accept KWG’s argument it should have a veto over the claims since it might eventually discover minerals on them and a road could interfere with exploration and development. It was no secret that KWG staked these claims to be able to connect to the Ring of fireside, rather than look for minerals on them.

“There was no evidence the proposed easement would hinder (KWG’s) exploration or mining of its claims,” Justice G.R. Strathy wrote.

The court decision was a positive development for Toronto-based Noront, which bought Cliffs’ Ring of Fire assets last year to become the dominant landholder in the area.

Noront is within no rush to build up a north-south road because the company is currently focusing on an east-west route to access its Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper deposit within the Ring. But when Noront or any other mining companies get seriously interested in developing the big chromite deposits in the area, the north-south route is going to be crucial.

Coutts noted that the Ontario government could go ahead and create a north-south road now if it wants. Queen’s Park has committed to spending $1 billion on Ring of Fire infrastructure, and it has asked the federal government to complete exactly the same.

“This does open up possibilities for the provincial government’s infrastructure plans,” he explained.

pkoven@nationalpost.com

Twitter.com/peterkoven

Husky Energy Inc, Canada’s No. 3 integrated oil company, posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as cost cuts help cushion the impact from slumping crude oil prices.

The company posted a loss of revenue of $69 million, or 9 cents per share, for the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of revenue of $603 million, or 65 cents per share, last year.

The year-ago quarter included a non-cash control of $622 million related to the impairment of certain mature assets.

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According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, the company lost 5 cents per share, excluding items, while analysts typically had estimated a loss of revenue of 10 cents.

Husky, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, said U.S. oil prices averaged US$42.18 per barrel in the quarter in contrast to US$73.15 a year earlier.

The company also said on Friday it had hired financial advisers to help using the previously announced intend to sell some midstream assets in western Canada’s Lloydminster region, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

Husky had said in December it’s seeking to sell the assets, to bolster its balance sheet and meet debt obligations.

The Calgary-based company been on January scrapped its dividend, cut its capital budget as well as production guidance for the year as it attempts to deal with the prolonged slump in oil prices.
? Thomson Reuters 2016

Rising competition between North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) members to export crude oil, poses challenges for Canada, according to a brand new report through the International Energy Agency.

“This trend is increasingly supported also because the Keystone XL expansion project did not receive approval through the U.S. Administration President Obama in November 2015,” said the IEA in the set of Thursday.

Just on the month after the U.S. President rejected TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta-to-Nebraska Keystone XL pipeline, he lifted a 40-year ban on crude oil exports in the country. TransCanada has filed a US$15-billion lawsuit against the Federal government for breach of obligations under Chapter 11 of NAFTA.

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Mexico can also be in a rush to spread out up its crude oil sector for the first time in more than 80 years. Mexican president Pena Nieto told oil executives at the IHS Ceraweek event in Houston this week the country will commence your fourth call for bids in December, and it is launching incentives and reforms to draw in major oil companies.

Mexican heavy oil barrels are seen like a direct competitor to Canadian oilsands, specifically for the vital U.S. Gulf Coast market.

The rising continental competition means Canada will likely must find additional export markets outside The united states to have an increasing proportion of their oil exports in future, the IEA says.

Canadian natural gas exports to the U.S. has fallen 30 percent between 2007 to 2014 as the shale revolution south of the border saw domestic gas displaced by Marcellus producers in the U.S.

“Greenfield projects are being delayed or cancelled, and drilling activity has declined with lots of oil rigs and wells shut in, as the industry is scaling back capital investment and operating costs,” the IEA said.

The Paris-based energy watchdog had said within an earlier are convinced that Canadian oil production will rise by another 800,000 bpd by 2021, due to the projects already under construction, but future growth could come to a “standstill.”

“We may seem two implications for Canada: One, projects that are under way in Canada might be negatively affected and the growth might not be as we predict, and two, we might see a lot more delays and deferrals towards the new projects,” executive-director Fatih Birol said during an interview in Houston around the sidelines of the oil conference.

While the IEA commended Canada for regulatory changes to pipelines, marine and rail safety, much works must be done and also to ensure the country meet its target of 17 per cent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and 30 per cent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.

“Canada will now have to implement further action if it really wants to meet its 2020 target, which remains ambitious given its current emission profile,” the IEA noted.

Amid the difficulties of limited market access and growing competition, Canada also offers to deal with lower for extended gas and oil prices which will decelerate investments in greenfield projects in the oilsands, shale gas, transport infrastructure and liquefied gas (LNG) export terminals, “impacting energy supply growth potential beyond 2020, the IEA warned.

yhussain@nationalpost.com
YAD_FPEnergy

 

AURORA, Ont. – Magna International Inc. (TSX:MG) says the strong American dollar had a significant negative impact on its fourth-quarter revenue, which is reported in U.S. currency.

The Canadian autoparts giant based in Aurora, Ont., says its sales during the last three months of 2015 were $8.6 billion, down three percent from $8.8 billion last year.

It says that included a $770-million hit in the weaker Canadian dollar and also the euro from the U.S. dollar.

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Sales revenue would have been up six percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 with no currency fluctuation.

Magna’s net gain from continuing operations was also down year-over-year, visiting 6.4 per cent to $483 million from $516 million. Earnings per share dropped to $1.19 from $1.23.

Its leader, Don Walker, says Magna’s results were strong apart from the impact of currency fluctuation and its board of directors increased the quarterly dividend, which rises by 14 per cent to 25 cents per share with the March payment.

Foreigners ought to be permitted to own a greater portion of Canada’s airlines along with a revenue cap on railways’ grain shipments should be eliminated, according to a sweeping overview of Canada’s transportation industry tabled in Parliament Thursday.

Led by David Emerson, a floor-crossing minister who served both in Paul Martin’s and Stephen Harper’s governments, the 283-page review proposes a comprehensive reform from the Canada Transportation Act, which governs the nation’s railways, roads, airlines and marine transport.

The most notable recommendations address concerns which have been raised by private transportation companies and, if adopted, could affect Canadian travellers, shippers and farmers.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said he “will carefully consider” the report’s findings and will begin consultations with stakeholders in the coming weeks.

In the airline sector, the review recommends that Ottawa increase foreign ownership limits for commercial airlines to 49 percent from their current degree of 25 per cent to assist foster more competition.

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“Small, privately held carriers, prospective start-ups, industry analysts, yet others are convinced that the 25-per-cent foreign ownership limit is a barrier to entry: in contrast to larger markets such as the U.S., there may ‘t be enough capital in Canada to invest in 75 percent of the new national carrier,” the report says.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. said inside a statement that the current 25 per cent limit is “adequate” and any increase should be met with a corresponding increase south from the border.

“Make it reciprocal, because if a U.S. carrier has the chance to buy as much as 49 percent of a Canadian airline, we’d like the opportunity to buy 49 percent of a U.S. airline,” WestJet CEO Gregg Saretsky told the Financial Post in a recent editorial board meeting.

Air Canada declined to comment.



Emerson’s review also addresses the movement of grain by rail, a topic which has generated significant controversy recently. An archive harvest in 2013, combined with an awful winter, led to a huge backlog of grain as the railways struggled to keep up. This led to government-mandated minimum quotas and fines against Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Canadian National Railway Co.

The railways also have argued that the existing grain revenue cap, which determines the most they are able to earn every year from hauling grain regardless of how big the harvest, discourages capital investment.

Emerson proposes phasing the grain revenue cap – known as the maximum revenue entitlement program – within seven years, and “modernizing” it meanwhile.

Created in 2000, the cap “was assumed to become short-term,” the review says.

“However, the utmost revenue entitlement program remains in place today – this even though the grain sector has changed considerably since its introduction along with a number of issues, both technical and policy-related, have arisen since.”

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association said the recommendation raises “red flags,” and argued “some form of rate regulation – will probably still be necessary in seven years, because of the insufficient competition among railways and the lack of alternative market channels for large segments of the Prairie farm economy.”

CP and CN both declined to comment until they’d finished reviewing the report.

Here are the other key recommendations in the Canada Transportation Act review:

Allow web hosting investment in larger airports by moving within three years to some share-capital structure with equity-based financing from large institutional investorsMake airline passenger fees more competitive by linking them to the provision of services and infrastructure and by lowering the Air Travellers Security ChargeMake passenger screening more effective by replacing the present “one size fits all” approach with an intelligence-driven, risk-based screening processEncourage private investment in Canada’s marine ports by soliciting proposals from institutional and private-equity investorsDevelop a regulatory framework for self-driving cars that’s harmonized with U.S. legislationExpand rules for transporting dangerous goods by rail to want shippers of goods like chlorine and ammonia to pay for levies and carry extra insuranceSeparate freight and passenger rail networks through collaboration with provincial and municipal governmentsDevelop a long-term transportation infrastructure plan having a continuously updated listing of high-priority infrastructure needs within the next 20 to 30 years

SHANGHAI — The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) called on Friday around the world’s 20 biggest economies to step up the slowing pace of reforms to enhance economic growth amid sluggish trade and weak investment.

‘Flashing warning signs’: Canadian markets bracing for ‘dramatic’ Bank of Canada action – and a recession

Recent moves in Canadian financial markets claim that investors see increased likelihood of a recession this season and the possibility of “dramatic action” in the Bank of Canada.

Read more

Finance ministers and central bank governors of the 20 biggest economies, the G20, are meeting in Shanghai over the past weekend to address the weaker global growth outlook.

“Global growth prospects remain clouded soon, with emerging-market economies losing steam, world trade slowing down and also the recovery in advanced economies being dragged down by persistently weak investment,” the OECD said.

“The situation for structural reforms, combined with supporting demand policies, remains strong to sustainably lift productivity and also the job creation,” said the OECD report, prepared for the G20 meeting.

The organization has a task of monitoring reforms within the G20 to help the group deliver on its pledge from 2014 that they’ll increase global economic growth by 2 percentage points by 2018 through a number of coordinated structural alterations in their economies.

At the time, all G20 countries together pledged to deliver some 800 reforms as a whole, however their implementation is lacking, the top from the OECD Angel Gurria told a news conference on the sidelines from the G20 meeting.

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“Just at the time whenever we require it more, when we need to accelerate reform, there’s a deceleration of reform,” Gurria said. “Now you ask , how do we obtain the appetite, the conviction for the reform process going.”

“The problem is it is not happening, even that 2 per cent we agreed on is not happening,” Gurria said. “That is something we’re very worried about.”

The OECD said that the interest rate of reform was generally higher in Southern European countries like Italy and Spain, than among Northern Countries in europe. Outside Europe, the reform leaders were Japan, China, India and Mexico.



The slower-than-expected growth, specially in the world’s second-biggest economy China, has added to uncertainty and volatility on financial markets, as ultra low or even negative rates of interest haven’t provided the expected growth stimulus yet, but have previously reduced returns on investment.

“Finance industry is increasingly volatile as capital looks for both yield and safety,” the OECD said.

“Getting back to healthy and inclusive growth requires urgent policy response, drawing on monetary, fiscal, and structural policies cooperating,” the report said.

G20 financial leaders will discuss on Friday and Saturday how to better coordinate their policy response by trying to identify which policy areas and which countries still had room for maneuver to do more.

“This 2016 Opting for Growth report underscores the significance of synergies among policies in designing policy packages,” the OECD said.

Germany, having a fiscal surplus, an enormous current account surplus in excess of 8 percent of GDP and relatively low investment, is likely to be asked to step up spending, G20 officials said.

? Thomson Reuters 2016

Canada’s oilsands have been battered badly by low oil prices, adverse government policies and transportation constraints, but production is continuing and growth looks unstoppable until the end from the decade, based on two new reports.

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The message to oilsands supporters, opponents and competitors: Get accustomed to it.

An analysis by RBC Capital Markets says oilsands production is on target to grow by a further 760,000 barrels a day in the next four years, from 2.4 million barrels each day right now to peak at 3.A million barrels each day in 2020 – a surprising trajectory given today’s depressed oil prices.

The flood of new oil is originating from a handful of megaprojects already built or under development: three mining projects (Kearl, Fort Hills and Horizon), and five in-situ projects (Foster Creek, Christina Lake, Kirby, Surmont and Sunrise).

As impressive as the growth is, RBC says it is still 235,000 barrels each day short of previous expectations due to deferrals and cancellations over the past year.

The oilsands’ long-time horizon, which was once their great attribute, might be a hindrance inside a more volatile future

Oilsands growth means Canada’s overall oil production will climb to 4.6 million barrels a day by 2020. That’s 40 per cent lower than previously expected, but still a remarkable leap from the 2 million barrels each day produced in 2000, confirming Canada as one of the world’s oil producing powerhouses.

One from the interesting facets of the oilsands growth trend is it is fueled largely by Canadian operators Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc., while international companies that had previously rushed to the deposits such as Statoil ASA and PetroChina are sitting on the sidelines.

The picture gets foggy after 2020, when oilsands production could plateau. No growth plans have been announced beyond this decade, as oil prices and policies remain uncertain, particularly Alberta’s intends to cap oilsands greenhouse gas emissions at 100 megatonnes annually. Details of the controversial plan remain a mystery 3 months after its announcement by Alberta’s NDP government.

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In contrast to U.S. tight oil, which may be throttled up or down within months, oilsands projects aren’t well-suited to quick course corrections simply because they require long-lead times – four or five years from design to production for in-situ operations, and at least seven to eight years for mining operations, according to the report by RBC oil analysts, including co-head of worldwide energy research Greg Pardy.

Long lead times also mean the oilsands sector may be not able to make the most of potentially favourable market conditions post 2020, when oil prices might have recovered, resulting in the industry peaking well below its potential, previously pegged at around 6 000 0000 barrels a day.

Another report, by Peters & Co., re-enforces that oilsands operations that use steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology are unlikely to shut in production and can instead ride the low oil price cycle.

The SAGD market is in its infancy and has no operational knowledge about widespread steaming and production shut-ins for extended periods, the Calgary-based dealer said.

One of the finest risks is reservoir damage from an influx water, Peters said within the report.

“Shutting in SAGD wells on the widespread basis remains a serious concern for operators, with substantial risks to the reservoir, well-bores, surface facilities and efficiency of the project,” the dealer said.

Peters concludes that oil prices would have to decline below US$20 a barrel for operators to check out shutting in production. Operating costs for the better projects have been in the $15 to $20 a barrel, split between variable costs like power and gas, and fixed costs like maintenance and staff.

The bottom line is the oilsands have limited flexibility to respond to today’s new realities other than by cutting costs, that is already happening overall, and that their long-time horizon, which was once their great attribute, could be a hindrance inside a more volatile future.

ccattaneo@nationalpost.com

Twitter.com/cattaneooutwest

Peak-oil theorists – they’re those who predicted $300-a-barrel oil, because new discoveries wouldn’t materialize – were fundamentally immediately after all. So they say.

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No, not about the $300 price tag. Oil has become around US$30 a barrel and may stay there indefinitely, but that detail, they explain, only helps prove their point. And no, not about the failure to find new oil: The good thing about their theory, modestly revised, is it doesn’t depend on ever-diminishing supplies. On the contrary, peak-oil theorists first got it right, kind of. Oil will still peak and individuals will still abandon oil, simply not because we run out. On the contrary, the oil industry’s doom is going to be its everlasting supply.

For those who have trouble understanding this horror scenario, here is a short course from instructors for example Bloomberg Business and Thinkprogress’s Joe Romm, crowned Hero of the Environment by Time magazine. If you don’t have US$41 billion worth of savvy, as Bloomberg Business’s owner does, or a PhD from MIT as Romm does, you might need to read this explanation twice.

The peak-oil theory applies, they explain, if peak oil is thought in terms of demand, not supply. As the supply of oil won’t peak, demand for oil will, and shortly, since no one really wants oil. The proof is abundant and obvious – everything’s trending that way – once you consider it. Go ahead and take automobile.

The oil industry’s doom will be its everlasting supply

Electric vehicles now account for a mere one-tenth of one percent from the world’s one-billion cars and, according to OPEC, is only going to account for one per cent in 2040. But that estimate might be way off, Bloomberg Business announced this week in “Sooner Than You Think,” its series that “examines a few of the biggest transformations in human history that haven’t happened quite yet.”

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“By 2020, some electric cars and SUVs will be faster, safer, cheaper, and much more convenient than their gasoline counterparts,” leading people to abandon gas vehicles in droves. A Bloomberg New Energy Finance chart shows world oil demand peaking about 2025 due to this “transport transformation.”

Even earlier, by 2023, electric cars could displace two-million barrels of oil each day, developing a glut that will cripple the oil industry in the same manner the arrival of shale oil resulted in a crippling glut of two-million barrels of oil a day. (Still beside me?)



But it gets better (or worse, if you’re rooting for the oil industry) because more and more barrels get displaced as the electric car takes over from the gasoline vehicle, in the same manner colour TV took control of from monochrome. By 2030, eight-million barrels a day get displaced; by 2040, when half the earth’s cars are electrified, 18 million barrels. If you feel the oil industry is on the ropes now, imagine it after 2030. How many black-and-white TVs do you see at Best to buy?

The imminent demise of the gasoline vehicle joins other trends that make peak oil inevitable, peak-oil enthusiasts note, like Millennials’ rejection from the car culture and the imminence of the breakthrough in car batteries that will let them propel vehicles 200-300 miles on one charge.

Absolutely key to all this was the Paris global warming meetings, explains Romm, where world leaders promised to leave the majority of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground. As evidence that they will succeed, he cites that exemplar of environmental responsibility: China. “China understands the near future is low-carbon after which zero-carbon – so it intends to end up being the world leader both in the development and employ of battery electric vehicles, just like it already has both in solar and wind power power.” Besides, global governmental action “is inevitable within the 2020s because the reality of skyrocketing global warming becomes increasingly obvious.”

Put each one of these imminences and inevitabilities together and something else becomes inevitable – the embrace by environmentalists of the new Peak Oil Theory.

Lawrence Solomon is executive director of one’s Probe, a Toronto-based environmental group. LawrenceSolomon@nextcity.com.

OTTAWA – Finance Minister Bill Morneau will use this week’s meeting of commercial nations to promote Canada’s economic blueprint as a possible path for improving growth and financial stability in other states.

Morneau will join his G20 counterparts on the global stage throughout a two-day summit beginning Friday in Shanghai – a conference which comes in a critical here we are at economies now facing renewed threats to growth and financial stability.

While there is general agreement among the G20 that the world is facing a major challenge to reverse a slowdown among the richest economies, there’s less common ground on which to complete about this.

As head from the G20 this season, host China intends to push for movement on overall economic structural reforms and infrastructure investment, as well as encourage more focus on reforming financial regulations and improving oversight on international tax regimes.

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But issues surrounding monetary and fiscal policies are likely to hold the spotlight – plus a slowdown in China’s own economy and domestic market volatility, along with the outlook for oil prices and their impact on global growth.

Canada’s finance minister is expected to create towards the table the requirement for actions like the new Liberal government’s intends to pump billions of dollars into this country’s economy – targeted on infrastructure spending and tax breaks for middle-class families – to advertise long-term growth.

“I is going to be proud to reconfirm Canada’s approach to economic growth as I use my fellow G20 finance ministers to strengthen the worldwide economy and help create prosperity for all of our citizens, particularly the middle-class and also the most vulnerable people in our societies,” Morneau said inside a statement.

“Our government believes that smart investments throughout the economy, including investments in research and innovation, produce the conditions necessary for a good standard of living, a safe and secure retirement, and prospects for future generations.”



Morneau will push the Liberal intend to target tax breaks for that middle-class, support for additional needy Canadians and investments in infrastructure – all of which the government says will ensure the benefits of a long-term growth strategy are spread over the economy, a senior Finance official said in a background briefing for reporters on Thursday.

That could be a try to sell you for some of Canada’s G20 partners.

“Negative rates of interest are proving insufficient to get back to full employment globally, and fiscal policy will be a more powerful tool,” said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets.

“But it’s hard to see the eurozone backing fiscal stimulus and larger deficits in their region, given Germany’s political bent, and Japan seems dedicated to higher sales taxes,” he added. “China has room to ramp up deficits and cut rates of interest further and will also be encouraged through the G20 to do this.” 

The International Monetary Fund has already highlighted the gulf between what is accomplished and what might be achieved by the G20. 

With the collapse in global oil prices, any proceed to help restructure weaker economies might be compromised by disappointing growth in leading countries, including in Canada where the plunge in crude has pushed Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador into recession, and may now perform the same nationally – just months after a mini-recession in the first half of 2015.

In a study released Wednesday, the IMF said the G20 “must plan now for co-ordinated demand support using available fiscal space to boost public investment.”

For Canada’s Liberals, elected inside a federal vote in October, the continuing deterioration from the global economy, with few signs of a sustained rebound in oil prices, has forced the federal government to drastically revise its deficit outlook with this fiscal year – now likely to be more than $18 billion, while many economists express it could reach $30 billion.

The final tally is going to be contained in Morneau’s 2016-17 budget, to be sold March 22.

“There is definitely an increasing view around the world that government should be considering stimulating growth a little more around the fiscal side,” said Emanuella Enenajor, senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Ny.

“The fact that Canada is actively doing that, or is dedicated to doing that, I believe makes a large amount of sense given the fiscal room that the government has,” she said.

“I think Canada is in a unique position among the G20 so that you can do this. Of course, we have to recognize that government spending is merely a Band-Aid solution. Greater spending by Ottawa will temporarily support growth. It cannot be trusted to be a sustainable growth driver, and it will need an ending point.”

gisfeld@nationalpost.com

Twitter.com.gisfeld

 

Nissan Motor Co. disabled a mobile application for controlling its Leaf electric car following a security researcher demonstrated how hackers could access temperature controls and other functions from across continents.

Japan’s second-largest automaker made the app unavailable after Australian researcher Troy Hunt demonstrated an ability to compromise into a friend’s Leaf in the U.K. and access information about the battery status and climate controls. Hunt wrote the car’s vehicle identification number, that is visible through the car’s windshield, was the only piece of information needed to undermine the app’s insecure programming.

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U.S. regulators have called for carmakers to boost safety measures after Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV this past year recalled 1.4 million vehicles that hackers could access remotely and control the steering, brakes and engine. Mark Rosekind, administrator for that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in January called for specific actions the government may take within the next year to speed the adoption of technologies that would make autos less vulnerable.

Nissan apologized on its Facebook page after disabling the electric car’s app and said it’s focusing on an updated version. The only functions that could be controlled remotely through the app could be operated manually, based on an e-mailed statement.



Bloomberg News

It’s merely a small step but there’s finally what’s promising out of Dundee Corp., the holding company that has interests inside a slew of industries including investment advisory, corporate finance, energy, resources, property and infrastructure.

The great news: a good investment Dundee made in a recently formed unit more than four years back seems set to visit public using a reverse takeover with a Gulfstream Acquisition 1 Corp., a capital pool company whose shares are on the TSX-Venture Exchange.

This week Gulfstream announced it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with Blue Goose Capital Corp. (Dundee acquired a majority stake in Blue Goose in 2011, right after creating Dundee Agricultural.) Plans demand that intent to be turned into a definitive agreement.

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For Gulfstream the proposed acquisition is going to be its qualifying transaction considering that it is buying Blue Goose. Once the merger is finished, Blue Goose will end up a public company and Dundee will have monetized one of its investments.

Blue Goose, whose net assets in Dundee’s last annual report (March 2015) were listed at $86.13 million, is focused “on the production, distribution and sale of organic and natural beef, chicken and fish.” Dundee has an 87 percent curiosity about Blue Goose, that has operations across Canada: It’s organic beef cattle operations along with a hay-making business in B.C.; as well as an organic and natural poultry business in addition to a fish farming business in Ontario.



Blue Goose, which has been around since 1992, was formed “with one man’s need to feed his family neat and nutritious protein, and also the belief that should you take care of your land and animals, they will look after you.” In each from the last financial years Blue Goose has posted a loss.

For the qualifying transaction to proceed, numerous steps need to be taken: Blue Goose has to raise $20 million; the two sides have to complete their due diligence; the shareholders of Blue Goose need to approve the deal; and also the TSX-Venture needs to sign off.

TASEKO BATTLE

The proxy battle being fought by Raging River, a shareholder and bond holder at Taseko Mines – is similar to many others that have occurred over the years: The dissident wants change in the company mainly because of either management’s poor performance or governance issues; the organization typically resists; and the fight continues until its clear that one side is set for victory.

Along the way there’s lot of mud slinging. Thursday wasn’t any exception. In the morning Taseko issued an argument saying Raging River had failed to disclose a corporate bankruptcy of 1 of “its proposed nominees for Taseko’s Board.” (Within the afternoon Taseko made a second release announcing the resignation of 1 of their directors “effective immediately.”)

In its first release, Taseko said Raging River “explicitly denied” the involvement of their four director nominees with any bankruptcies within the previous Ten years, a requirement under Canadian law. In that release, Taseko included an attachment detailing the bankruptcy settlement agreement with one of Raging River’s nominees.

By the afternoon, Raging River indicated it’s “commencing a defamation lawsuit with the aim of elevating the tenor of the debate to focus on the actual issues of Taseko.”

Given that the meeting date is May 10, there are many time for more arrows to become fired by each side.

bcritchley@nationalpost.com

TORONTO – The OMERS pension fund is reporting a 6.7 percent net return last year around the investments it manages for municipal along with other public-sector workers across Ontario.

OMERS says its assets grew by $5 billion last year after expenses to around $77 billion, with 52 percent in public investments and 48 percent in private investments.

Returns for its private investments – including shares of non-public companies, infrastructure and real estate – outperformed public investments last year.

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OMERS says its public investments earned 0.7 percent as the private investments gained 14.5 percent in 2015.

It also received $3.8 billion in contributions from plan members and employers, and paid out $3.4 billion in benefits.

The fund administrator says the outcomes exceeded its long-term funding requirement for a 6.5 per cent annual return. Its funded status improved to 91.5 percent from 90.8 percent in 2014.

OMERS invests and administers pensions for Ontario municipalities, school boards, emergency services and native agencies.