+ Agrium Inc.’s proxy battle heating up as activist JANA Partners goes after control of the Agrium board, change company direction etc …
+ Counsel Corporation on the market to dispose of non-core businesses to put more emphasis on mortgage origination
+ Cyprus bank bailout continues to ripple through Europe as large depositors in Cyrpriot banks lost their shirts, now looking for safer bets in other countries, as Euro zone countries with banks bigger than their economies justify start struggling to attract capital . . tic-toc .. there are likely more dominoes to fall
+ Hess Corporation agreed to sell 100% of its Russian sub. Samara-Nafta to OAO LUKOIL for $2.05 billion
+ Huntingdon Capital Corp. not giving up on its pursuit of KEYreit; announced intention to up their bid in effort to thwart the deal between Plazacorp Retail Properties Ltd. and KEYreit . . . has now filed its 3rd revised tender offer - stay tuned!
+ Imperial Oil’s Kearl - $10.9 billion oilsands plant started processing its first bitumen
+ Lonestar West Inc. closed its acquisition of PLJ Enterprises LLC
+ UK banking regulator, Financial Services Authority is abolished; two successor organizations – Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is to ensure stability of firms and will be part of the Bank of England; Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be a markets behavioral watchdog, FCA will take charge of investigation of LIBOR rate-rigging by banks
+ Aurora Oil & Gas Limited closed its US$ 117.5 million acquisition of Eagle Ford shale assets
+ BIOX Corporation entered biodiesel supply agreement with Shell Canada Limited; JV will connect Hamilton facilities by pipeline
+ Birch Lake Energy Inc. and Sundance Energy Corporation dissolved their JV and business and combination plans
+ Coalspur Mines Limited signed 7-yr. rail transportation deal with CN; 6.5 km rail line to be built in deal to take Coaspur coal to tidewater
+ Delphi Energy Corp. acquisition of $13.65 million Montney assets to add to its holdings
+ Exxon pipeline rupture (12,000 barrels) in Arkansas being contained; spilled product was Wabasca Heavy Crude, so media and environmental activists are pouncing on opportunity to bash Keystone XL project
+ former Mayor of Calgary and Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, died
+ Hess Corporation sold Caspian Sea assets for $1 billion
+ Inovalis S.A. is estatblishing Inovalis REIT
+ Inter Pipeline Fund entered an agreement with FDDL Partnership (Cenovus & ConocoPhillips JV) to transport bitumen and diluent from oilsands projects; 840 kilometers of new pipelines, capital cost of $2.6 billion
+ internet service providers endured the largest denial of service barrage in the history of the internet as anti-spam vigilantes bombarded servers of the Domain Names registry . . .
+ J. Crew to open its first Calgary store; Chinook Centre in June
+ MCAN Mortgage Corporation agreed to acquire Xceed Mortgage Corporation in a cash and stock deal, subject to shareholder approval
+ Niko Resources Ltd. is negotiating with to parties to sell $157 million in non-core assets
+ Pure Industrial REIT closed its $8.85 million acquisition of Balzac multi-tenant building
+ Suncor Energy announced it will not go ahead with its Voyageur upgrader, and have acquired Total E & P Canada Ltd.’s interest in the JV for $515 million; earlier Suncor took a $1.49 billion writedown on the project and will take further write-down of $140 million now
+ Suncor Energy ordered by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development to take corrective action to cure Pond C wastewater discharge problem in connection with high toxicity leakage into Athabasca River
+ Total S.A. taking a $1.65 billion writedown on cancellation of Vogageur upgrader, will continue capital spending on oilsands projects while focusing on U.S. gulf coast exploration
+ TD Bank Group closed its acquisition of Epoch Holding Corporation, adds US$ 25.9 billion in assets under management
+ TransCanada got unfavourable NEB rulings on it multi-year tolls for its natural gas Mainline; details of the 257 page decision – TransCanada studying the decision before commenting
+ who is Thomas Homer-Dixon? … he’s the guy who wrote an op-ed piece on oilsands for the New York Times (reads like someone who visited Canada by reading ½ the literature from afar: but he’s Canadian, teaches at Waterloo). His website reveals he is a writer and speaker of opinion – doesn’t seem to matter whether he has any knowledge in the area at all. References to Homer Simpson are merely comical, accurate, but comic. As for his facts or understanding of the issues, not so much . . .
INFRASTRUCTURE / P3 / GREEN
+ RFQ issued for Phase 2 Project, Highway 407 East – by Infrastructure Ontario
+ City of Calgary set to restore the ‘orginal lions’ from the Centre Street bridge at a cost of $625,000 – taking funds from the West LRT Public Art budget to do it . . .
INTERESTING REAL ESTATE NEWS OTHER PLACES
+ Transbay Transit Tower , at 60 stories, will be San Francisco’s tallest at 1,070 feet; ground broken … Hines and Boston Properties will develop it to LEED Gold standards
+ FAM REIT closed $ 43 million acquisition of Toronto office building
+ NorthWest International Healthcare Properties REIT closed $20 million acquisition of new medical office complex in Fulda, Germany
“When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes… Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal – that there is no human relation between master and slave.” Leo Tolstoy
FACILITYCalgary- Calgary oil & gas, business and real estate NEWS, Mark Kolke (Editor) - President, MaxComm Realty Advisors - Calgary office leasing, Calgary industrial leasing, P3 Public Private Partnerships - MaxComm Communications Publisher
