Murray Edwards moved across the pond for a change of scenery, but he can still make a splash back in Alberta.
The chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. – who relocated to London from Calgary last year – has a made a career of hunting down oil and gas assets when they are out of favour, snapping them for a good price and transforming his company in the process.
He's done it in the biggest way yet with the $7.25-billion (U.S.) purchase of Royal Dutch Shell PLC's oil sands assets, a transaction that cements Canadian Natural as one of the trio of companies that now dominate the mining and processing ends of the bitumen business, which is known for massive reserves, but also high costs and specialized know-how. Story
Sun Life's Dean Connor ties compensation to client satisfaction
Sun Life Financial Inc. is moving to tie employee compensation to client feedback as it plots its strategic direction for the next few years.
The move is part of chief executive officer Dean Connor's plan to quantify one of his top priorities after five years at the helm of the Toronto-based insurer.
"We're changing our annual incentive plan starting this year – we just announced this to our [21,000] employees around the world – so that 25 per cent of the annual incentive rewards is based on client feedback," Mr. Connor said ahead of the company's annual investor day on Thursday where the insurer mapped out where it expects to find profit growth in its Canadian, U.S. and Asian businesses. Story
DAILY DEALS
Toronto-Dominion Bank, best known for its massive retail branch network, is winning a reputation in Calgary as the go-to lender for ambitious energy companies. Story
Bank of Nova Scotia is in talks to sell its business in Malaysia, where the bank has operated since 1973, to Cathay Pacific Holdings Ltd. Story
ELSEWHERE IN FINANCE
Wells Fargo & Co. took further steps this week to restructure its retail-banking business, even as the firm continues digging into the causes of its sales-practices scandal, according to employees and memos reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Story (WSJ, subscription required)
American International Group Inc said on Thursday its Chief Executive Peter Hancock will step down, a decision he made after poor financial performance frustrated shareholders and the insurer's board of directors. Story (The Globe and Mail)
Corporate executives are buying their own firms' shares at the slowest pace in at least 29 years, the latest sign of uncertainty as the bull market in U.S. stocks enters its ninth year. Story (WSJ, subscription required)
After more than a century in the shadow of New York's Big Board, the Chicago Stock Exchange has been short on cash and searching for relevance. Now the exchange, which handles less than half a per cent of U.S. stock trades, is approaching the final hurdle in an audacious plan to become a player in international equity markets. Story (Bloomberg)