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Friday, November 6, 2009 08:10 AM
D'Alessandro to CIBC board?
Andrew Willis
Dominic D’Alessandro's life after Manulife will include a seat on the CIBC board, if there’s any truth to talk making the rounds in banking circles.
Directors at the country’s most accident-prone bank have apparently asked Mr. D’Alessandro to join their ranks; CIBC CM-T officials declined to comment. The former Manulife CEO is currently taking a vacation – he was last seen in Italy – but did say when he stepped down in May that he would take board seats as his next career.
Link to this postFriday, November 6, 2009 06:31 AM
Insurers take a look at compensation
Tara Perkins
Manulife Financial Corp. and Sun Life Financial Corp. are each reviewing their compensation practices, their CEOs say.
The rival insurers are looking at how their pay schemes are designed for employees at all levels. The companies were notified this summer by the country’s banking and insurance regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, that they are expected to comply with the Financial Stability Board’s recommendations on compensation which the G20 has adopted.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 03:10 PM
Manulife still under OSC microscope
Tara Perkins
Manulife Financial Corp. MFC-T says in the notes to its third-quarter earnings, which were released this morning, that the regulatory probe into the adequacy of its prior disclosures is ongoing.
The insurer disclosed on June 19 that the Ontario Securities Commission had sent it an enforcement notice to say it had reached a “preliminary conclusion” that the company did not properly disclose the risks related to its variable annuity and segregated funds business before March 2009.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 06:48 AM
Ed Clark on controversial greenhouse gas report
Tara Perkins
Yesterday afternoon, a week after a study on climate change funded by Toronto-Dominion Bank caused outrage in the oil patch, TD chief executive Ed Clark found himself standing at a podium in front of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce as a scheduled guest speaker.
Mr. Clark, you will recall, was once nicknamed “Ed the Red” by oil patch executives for his role in coming up with the interventionist 1980 National Energy Program. Last week, Alberta premier Ed Stelmach referred to the program as he reacted to the study funded by TD.
“There won’t be another wealth transfer to Ottawa under my watch, I can tell you,” he said, according to the Edmonton Journal.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 08:28 AM
CPP eyes $4-billion LBO deal
Globe Investor staff
Private-equity firm TPG and Canada Pension Plan are close to a deal for IMS Health, the U.S. health care data company, which would run at almost $4-billion (U.S.), the Wall Street Journal reports.
The newspaper, quoting sources, notes that it would mark the biggest leveraged buyout of the year if completed, in the best sign yet that stronger markets are boosting the fortunes of private equity players.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 03:20 PM
GMP, TD top TSX block trading
Andrew Willis
On the surface, the block trading world seems to be unfolding pretty much as one would expect.
TD Securities ranked No. 1 based on the value of its TSX trading in October, and GMP Securities was at the top of the charts based on its volume of buying and selling. These same two firms have topped the block charts most months for the past few years.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 01:07 PM
Groupe Aeroplan opens door to U.S. markets
Andrew Willis
Customer loyalty market leader Groupe Aeroplan opened the door to U.S. expansion this week with a relatively inexpensive $175-million purchase of Carlson Marketing.
A dominant player in the domestic market, former Air Canada unit Aeroplan AER-T is now using acquisitions to expand outside the country. Carlson, first and foremost a hotel and travel company, opted to narrow its focus.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:41 PM
Rogers and Shaw return to rivalry
Andrew Willis
The long truce between the country’s two biggest cable companies is clearly over, as industry chatter has Rogers Communications taking the offensive against Western Canadian rival Shaw Communications.
One rumour making the rounds in cable circles has Rogers and Halifax-based Bragg Communications negotiating a swap of regional cable operations, with Rogers expanding into the Vancouver area and Alberta, while giving up networks in Newfoundland. These talks were first reported last week on a web site called Cartt.ca.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:15 AM
Shaw back with new bond offering
Andrew Willis
Cable companies continue to blitz the corporate bond market, with Shaw Communications marketing $500-million of 30-year bonds on Wednesday.
TD Securities and RBC Dominion Securities are leading the Shaw offering and it’s expected to yield 285 basis points over the comparable government of Canada bond. That translates into an interest rate in the 7.85 per cent range. The issue could be bumped to $650-million if there is strong investor demand, according to fixed income traders.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 10:50 AM
Byron Securities hires energy, gold analysts
Andrew Willis
Former retail brokerage house Byron Securities expanded its research coverage this week by hiring a gold and energy analyst.
The new arrivals at Toronto-based Byron are Drew Clark, who will cover precious metal plays, and Guy Gordon, who follows oil and gas stocks. Mr. Clark has four years experience at the associate level at other dealers, including CIBC World Markets, while Mr. Gordon was at Toll Cross Securities. These moves were first picked up on the Bill’s Buzz blog run by executive search firm Vlaad and Co.
The larger move at this employee-owned firm came earlier this year when corporate finance boutique Becher McMahon Capital Markets rolled its team into Byron Securities, creating an institutional investment banking group in a dealer that had been focused on serving individual clients.
Streetwise Contributors
Andrew Willis
Andrew Willis joined The Globe and Mail in September of 1995. His career has included stints at a number of publications, including The Financial Post, The Financial Times of Canada, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, and MacLean's magazine. He also did freelance writing for Investment Executive magazine. He appears on television for BNN TV and CBC Newsworld.
Andrew has co-written a book, The Bre-X Fraud, with business journalist Douglas Goold.
Read Streetwise Tuesday through Friday in the pages of Report on Business.
Boyd Erman
Boyd Erman is a long-time business journalist who has worked at Dow Jones, Bloomberg, and the National Post before joining the Globe and Mail. Over the years, his areas of coverage have included economics, monetary policy, debt markets and corporate finance.
In addition, he is a regular commentator and guest host on Business News Network.
Steve Ladurantaye
Steve Ladurantaye wrote about technology companies in Ottawa before reporting for the Peterborough Examiner and Kingston Whig-Standard, where he won a National Newspaper Award for explanatory journalism. After joining the Globe and Mail in 2007, his work has regularly appeared in Report On Business and Globe Investor Magazine.
Tara Perkins
Tara Perkins has been a business reporter since 2004, following a brief stint as overnight editor of globeandmail.com. She has been writing for the Globe's business section since the spring of 2007, covering the banking sector during the course of the financial crisis. Prior to that, she worked for the Toronto Star. Tara has a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Guelph.
