+ last week I got some appointments and resignations wrong regarding changes at Niko Resources; I’ve FIXED them and you can see them the right way on last week’s archive page. Sorry Niko …
BOARDROOM changes, purges, appointments etc.
+ Frederick Vine of EllisDon to Chair @ Calgary Construction Association
+ Geoff Simonett to Director @ BluMetric Environmental Inc.
+ Joe Oliver to Director @ Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation
+ Joe Oliver to Director @ Origin Merchant Partners
+ Milton Erickson, Director @ Valparaiso Energy Inc., resigned
+ Stan Magidson to Chair @ Alberta Securities Commission
SAVE THE DATE / upcoming events
+ Apr. 4-7; Gas Indonesia, Summit & Exhibition 2016; Jakarta; info/register
+ SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. sold its interest in Malta International Airport to Fughafen Wien AG for 64 million euros
+ TELUS Corporation announced it will invest $900 million in new Alberta infrastructure in 2016 as part of a multi-year $4.5 billion program (which includes its $400 million TELUS Sky project in downtown Calgary
GLOSSARY
+ AEMERA – Alberta Environmental Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Agency
+ AER - Alberta Energy Regulator
+ `BBL – barrel
+ BBLS/D – barrels per day
+ BOE – barrel of oil equivalent
+ Brent – North Sea crude benchmark price
+ CapEx – capital expenditures
+ CAPP - Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
+ cap rate – capitalization rate
+ CBD – Central Business District
+ CCAA – Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act
+ CEAA – Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
+ COSIA - Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance
+ CPPIB – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
+ CREB - Calgary Real Estate Board
+ EBITDA – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
+ E & P – exploration and production
+ FERC – U.S. Federal Energy Regulation Commission
+ Forbearance Agreement – a short term formalized relief arrangement when loan terms are in default
+ GJ - gigajoule
+ GOA - Government of Alberta
+ GTA – greater Toronto area
+ G&A – general and administrative
+ IEA – International Energy Agency
+ IPO – Initial Public Offering
+ JV – Joint Venture
+ KV – kilovolt (one thousand volts)
+ KW – kilowatt (one thousand watts)
+ LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
+ LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas
+ MCF – thousand cubic feet
+ MCF/D – thousand cubic feet per day
+ mezz – mezzanine debt
+ MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
+ MW – megawatt (1 million watts)
+ NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement
+ NEB – National Energy Board
+ NGLs – natural gas liquids
+ P3 – Public Private Partnership
+ PADD – U.S. Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts
+ PPA – Power Purchase Agreement
+ PSAC – Petroleum Services Association of Canada
+ RECA – Real Estate Council of Alberta
+ REIT – Real Estate Investment Trust
+ RFP – request for proposals
+ RFQ – request for qualifications
+ SAGD – steam assisted gravity drainage
+ S & P – Standard & Poors
+ sub – subsidiary
+ sub. – subordinated
+ tic toc – we’ll see …
+ UDI – Urban Development Institute
+ WTI – West Texas Intermediate crude benchmark price
+ WTO – World Trade Organization
FACILITYCalgary current week data
this site is refreshed with a new issue every Tuesday morning
updated April 5, 2016
TODAY'S HEADLINES
NEWS | Alaska buys Virgin | Algeco/Scotsman on the market | Cenovus job cuts | Connacher keeping creditors at bay | Corus closed Shaw acquisition | Panama Papers | Sanjel in CCAA/two asset sales | Sears sale/leasebacks | Stantec grows again | TransCanada selling power assets | WestJet’s DUMB move + Bob Thirsk interview | upcoming events, appointments, oilsands/heavy oil + climate change + infrastructure + REIT NEWS + financings + VIEWPOINT guest article by Wendell Cox >>>>
CONVERSATIONS
Mark Kolke interviews interesting people. He seeks a glimpse of what drives them, how they see the world and what they see in Calgary's future.
This week's conversation with Bob Thirsk, Chancellor @ University of Calgary and Canadian Astronaut
Last week's conversation with Jim Pender, counselor, social worker and mediator @ Pender Associates
+ Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. – Groucho Marx
+ One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. - Plato
KUDOS and NOT KUDOS!
+ to Universal Music Canada (EMI Music Canada) and the University of Calgary; the entire library of EMI music, donated to U of C to be housed in its archives – in partnership with the National Music Centre which just opened during Juno Week in Calgary
+ to First Energy Capital Corp., opting to not have a boozy Stampede Party this year, instead giving $100,000 to four charities!
.... and KUDOS-NOT:
+ WestJet decided to open a call centre, creating 400 new jobs; not in Calgary, but in Moncton, NB. Staff here will lose their jobs, New Brunswick new-hires will fill them. WestJet says they were lured by government financial incentives in New Brunswick. I wonder if they thought about Calgarians, and where they might spend their next dollars? I’m thinking ‘not WestJet’ for my next trip …and, before anyone jumps on me for being unfair to WestJet for that remark – hasn’t WestJet’s success been built upon the travel-wallets of Albertans? So, if you are going to create jobs – 400 of them, now, why not do it in Alberta vis-à-vis going to the New Brunswick gov’t trough? Worse, these aren’t new jobs – just relocated ones but the people aren’t going. I’m not saying GOA should have matched this deal – I’m suggesting WestJet is forgetting where its loyalties ought to be. They would be WISE to reverse that decision right now – or all that goodwill they spend so much YouTube time telling everyone each year could be perishable …
NEWS SUMMARY March 29 - April 5
+ Alaska Airlines agreed to acquire Virgin America for US$2.6 billion
+ Algeco/Scotsman Holdings appointed advisors to enhance liquidity
+ Cara Operations Ltd agreed to acquire St. Hubert Chicken chain; 117 restaurants, $537 million transaction
+ Caza Oil & Gas Inc. is planning a ‘going-private’ transaction
+ Cenovus Energy announced it is cutting another 440 jobs; 190 (contractors are already gone) and 250 staff will hit the bricks starting this week …
+ Connacher Oil and Gas Limited entered into a forbearance agreement with a lender regarding US$153.8 million in debt
+ Corus Entertainment Inc. closed its $2.65 billion acquisition of Shaw Media Inc.
+ current energy prices – live link to Bloomberg energy prices; crude prices volatile in advance of OPEC’s Doha meeting and reports Russia’s production (no surprise) hit a 30 yr. high in March
+ FACILITYCalgary’s OP-ED page, guest article: ‘Growth Management: focusing on priorities’ by Wendell Cox - click VIEWPOINT TAB
+ FluidOil Limited acquired the intellectual property of Ivanhoe Energy Inc. including proprietary technology for enhanced heavy oil upgrading; terms not disclosed
+ Fortis Inc. closed its acquisition of Aitken Creek Gas Storage ULC from Chevron Canada Properties Ltd.
+ GE Canada and Ryerson Futures Inc. has started: Zone Startups Calgary – to support growth of industrial internet and energy-related startups
+ GE Capital agreed to sell its U.S. and Canadian franchise financing (real estate and hotels) to Western Alliance Bank; terms not disclosed
+ JUNO Awards 2016; held in Calgary – hotels, restaurants and venues were singing happy tunes, with cash registers ringing
+ Murphy Oil Corp. cutting jobs in every location; how many, not disclosed
+ Panama Papers – a new term, perhaps a distraction of secrecy, tax avoidance and banking laws .. stay tuned for an interesting spring/summer of news; Panamamian law firm Mossack Fonseca had a security breach in which 11 million documents were leaked to media. So far many world leaders are ‘implicated’ in having inappropriate off-shore corporations in tax havens. Experts say many of the firm’s clients are simply doing business properly, and privately, however there will a media-frenzy as names get released. So far the only Canadian name of note is RBC – though that doesn’t mean anything improper happened.
+ Pengrowth Energy Corporation deal; sale/leaseback of co-generation facilities at Lindberg, for $35 million with Frog Lake Energy Resources Corp.
+ Rona Inc. shareholders approved the $3.2 billion takeover bid from Lowe’s Cos. Inc.
+ Sanjel Corporation under court ordered CCAA protection
+ Sanjel Corporation agreed to sell its U.S. fracturing, coiled tubing and cementing assets to Liberty Oilfield Services
+ Sanjel Corporations agreed to sell its Canadian pressure pumping, coiled tubing and cementing assets to STEP Energy Services
+ Sears Canada distribution center in Calgary – sold to CT REIT in a sale/leaseback transaction; $84 million
+ Sears Canada distribution center in Vaughan, ON – sold to Metrus in a sale/leaseback transaction; $100 million
+ Shell Upstream Albania B.V. closed the acquisition of Petromanas Albanian assets for US$ 45 million
+ Spectra Energy Corp. agreed to sell its Canadian natural gas liquids facilities portfolio (Empress) to Plains Midstream Canada ULC for $200 million
+ Strad Energy Services Ltd. adopted and advance notice bylaw
+ Stantec Inc. agreed to acquire MWH Global for $793 million (6,800 employees worldwide)
+ TELUS Corporation announced it will invest $900 million in new Alberta infrastructure in 2016 as part of a multi-year $4.5 billion program (which includes its $400 million TELUS Sky project in downtown Calgary
+ TransCanada Corporation is looking to sell up to 49% of its Mexico natural gas pipelines to help fund its acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group Inc.
+ TransCanada Corporation’s Keystone Pipeline down due to North Dakota spill; line shut down, cause of spill being investigated
+ U.S. rig count dropped to 450 this week, a new all-time low (in contrast, a year ago 1,028 rigs were active)
+ Blackstone Group LP is looking at a US$3.38 billion acquisition of a Brazilian mall portfolio …
+ GE agreed to sell GE Asset Management to State Street Global Advisors for US$485 million
+ Starwood chain sale – the plot thickens; Anbang Insurance Group Inc. withdrew its US$14 billion bid, paving the way for Marriott International Inc. to acquire Sheraton and Westin flags for US$13.25 billion
this week in REITS
+ Allied Properties REIT acquired the Toronto properties of ZoomerMedia Limited for $31 million in a sale/leaseback transaction
+ InterRent REIT agreed to acquire Parkway Park in Ottawa (418 apartments) for $55.7 million
+ InterRent REIT agreed to some portfolio dispositions; $11,475,000 (Brantford) and $11,100,000 (Belleville)
+ Michael Forsayeth to CEO @ Granite REIT
+ Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT is on the market to raise $70 million in equity
+ Plaza Retail REIT closed $23 million equity financing
+ Sears Canada distribution center in Calgary – sold to CT REIT; $84 million
CLIMATE CHANGE / LEED / RENEWABLE ENERGY
+ Alberta will have power, but at what cost? Coal is out, natural gas is cheap – and we had another week of cancelled PPA’s {Maxim, TransCanada, TransAlta, Enmax, Capital Power etc.} in the news; the FULL story will unfold in time. Perhaps we are finally seeing the ‘whole spectrum’ of what deregulation means to power markets. Is it really a question of an ‘opt-out’ provision for producers being a government lawyers/negotiators error, a ‘hard won’ negotiating point for producers or some kind of malfeasance during the ‘deregulation’ of power in the Klein-Stelmach-Redford era? … tic toc …
+ China’s emissions declining … really? Seems so according to a NY Times article
+ SunEdison Inc., the solar panel company has been on an acquisition shopping spree, piling up US$12 billion in debt, has seen its stock plummeting and lawsuits mounting – on the verge of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing …
OIL SANDS AND
HEAVY OIL NEWS
+ FluidOil Limited acquired the intellectual property of Ivanhoe Energy Inc. including proprietary technology for enhanced heavy oil upgrading; terms not disclosed
