One of Gerry Schwartz's team of buyout executives at Onex Corp. will soon hunt for takeovers in the fuel business, joining the country's biggest distributor in a corporate development and strategy role.
Irfhan Rawji joins Red Deer, Alta.-based Parkland Fuel Corp. as vice-president. He will work out of the Calgary office.
The move will give Mr. Rawji the chance to try his hand at operations in the future. As a director at Toronto-based Onex., his position involved assessing potential acquisition targets, as well as due diligence on potential investments. He joined Onex in 2011.
Parkland sells products such as diesel, gasoline, heating oil and lubricants to retail, commercial and wholesale clients, with a focus on non-urban areas.
While Parkland's shares took a hit in February after it posted quarterly results that seriously missed expectations, the stock was a solid performer through 2012. The company's share price rose nearly 30 per cent in the past year.