+ Mar. 13-15; 12th Annual Arctic Oil & Gas Symposiuminfo/register
+ Mar. 20-21/2012; 6th Annual Buildex Edmonton, Edmonton Northlands info/register
+ Mar. 24; CalgaryPeaceBridge opening + Apr. 11/2012; Vancouver Real Estate Forum info/register
+ Apr. 25 & 26; CI Energy Group Tight Oil Conference, Calgary info
+ May 10/2012; Edmonton Real Estate Forum info/register + June 5/2012; Calgary Leasing Conference info/register + June 19; sustainabuild conference, Calgary TELUS Convention Centreinfo/register
SAVE THE DATE / corporate meetings
+ Mar. 20; Bank of Montreal, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Halifax
+ Mar. 23; Probe Resources Ltd., Annual & Special Shareholders Meeting, Calgary
+ Apr. 1; Reliable Energy Ltd., Special Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
+ Apr. 3; Scotiabank, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Saskatoon
+ Apr. 4; National Bank of Canada, Annual Shareholders Meeting, Montreal
+ Apr. 5; China Coal Corporation, Annual & Special Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
+ Apr. 19; CalgaryAirport Authority, Annual Public Meeting, Calgary
+ April 24; Canadian National Railway Corp, AGM of Shareholders, Halifax
+ April 25; Encana Corporation, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
+ May 11; Enerplus Corporation, Annual & Special Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
+ May 17; Canadian Pacific, Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Calgary
+ kudos to ENMAX Corporation … named one of the World’s Most EthicalCompanies … begs the question, given the Gary Holden matter, whether achieving this ranking is a PR reputation-repair effort by ENMAX, or whether the listing organization is credible at all --- one has to wonder!!
+ Government of Albertanamed expert panel membersfor its new ($11 million budget for 2012) environmental monitoring system; Howard Tenant is chair
+ TransCanada Corporation got authorization to re-start Bruce Power Unit 2 reactor (62,200 MW) ; refurbishment has cost $2.4 billion
+ Government of Alberta committed, gasp-finally, $10.5 million to the Final Mile Rural Connectivity Initiative to use satellite technology to link up 98% of rural Alberta
+ City Manager’s Louise Station review report found no wrongdoing in City of Calgary controversial sole-source land deal but recommended never doing a sole-sourced deal like that again. So much simpler, if they’d done it right the first time – rather than lining the pockets of a politically cosy developer . . .
GOLF QUOTE / JOKE
“Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness.” – William Wordsworth
“All I do is play music and golf – which one do you want me to give up?” – Willie Nelson
FACILITYCalgary published every Tuesday morning
FRESH ITEMS TODAY Mar. 20 / 2012
+ Air Canada’s aircraft maintenance affiliate Aveos filed for bankruptcy protection
+ Anderson Energy Ltd. announced losses, continued efforts to find a buyer and shutting-in 500,000 cubic/ft/day of natural gas production
+ Calgary in World Financial Centre ratings for the first time; the drama is not so much in the 27 head of Calgary (ranked 28th), but appreciation of those ranked behind Calgary on that list of 77
+ Government of Alberta provided a $7.3 million, Federal Gov’t $3 million - funding to Productivity Alberta, a former prov. gov’t dept., now a not-for-profit organization focused on improving Alberta’s competitiveness . . .
+ Portugal on cusp of Greece-like bailout of sovereign debt trouble; meanwhile Ireland, Spain and Italy aren’t out of the woods yet either . . .
+ TransCanada Corp. will shut down its 500,000 barrel/day Keystone pipeline for several days in April to track down and remove an errant pig (in-stream diagnostic device)
+ Trimac Transportation Ltd. closed its $9 million acquisition of Northern Resource Trucking Limited Partnership
+ U.P.S. agreed to acquire TNT Express for $6.8 billion
+ Viterra Inc. continues exclusive talks with potential suitors (consortium of Agrium, Richardson International and Glencore International) to acquire Viterra for reported $6 billion; Agrium’s head office is in Calgary
NEWS REVIEW Mar. 14 - 19
+ Aeroquest International Limited agreed to combine with Geotech Ltd.
+ Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. closed the sale of its 40% interest in MacKay River oils sands project to Cretaceous Oilsands Holdings Limited (PetroChina subsidiary) for $680 million
+ BellCanada agreed to acquire Astral Media for $3.4 billion
+ Brookfield Asset Management to spin off $83 billion in commercial property assets to Brookfield Property Partners
+ Brookfield Office Properties agreed to acquire the Bow Parkade for $90 million and will expand its former Calgary Herald property site to a full city block of development potential; architectural competition underway
+ Brookfield Asset Management Inc. invested $160 million in $400 million U.S. warehouse joint venture with Hillwood
+ Canadian Natural Resources Limited announced start up activities at Horizon project’s primary upgrading facility
+ CCS Corp. rebranded itself and will operate as Tervita Corp.
+ City of Calgary projecting property tax hike of 6.5% for 2012
+ CN established a new Port of Prince Rupert-Calgary container service commencing June 2012 which involves relocation of its Calgary Intermodal Terminal to 680 acre logistic park in Rocky View County near Calgary International Airport, due to open Jan. 2013
+ Fairborne Energy Ltd. initiated a strategic review process to enhance shareholder value
+ Ferus Inc. introduced the first LNG powered heavy-duty tractor in Alberta for transporting liquid nitrogen to energy industry customers
+ fifteen of nineteen largest U.S. banks passed the Federal Reserve’s latest round ‘stress tests’, indicating FED confidence, which translated to markets bidding up bank stocks while those ranked weakest remain mired in residential mortgage muck …
+ Government of Alberta rejected a proposal it had earlier green-lighted, to allow development of Alberta First Nations Energy Centre, a $6.6 billion bitumen refining venture because it felt the project was too risky
+ Homburg Invest Inc. obtained its 3rd extension of CCAA protection till May 31, 2012
+ Insignia Energy Ltd. announced its 2012 CapEx Budget is reduced to $16.5 million
+ MEG Energy Corp. launched its regulatory process compliance steps for the Surmont Project in southern Athabasca oil sands region
+ Oilsands Quest Inc. got court approval for $7.005 million sale of its Eagles Nest asset to Cavalier Energy Inc.
+ Kinder Morgan Inc. reached a deal with U.S. federal regulators to sell certain pipeline assets in order to win approval of its $20.7 billion buyout of El Paso Corp.
+ Pembina Pipeline Corporation got Competition Bureau approval for its takeover of Provident Energy Ltd.
+ Quinn Young Architects merged with Group2 Architecture; will operate as Group2/QYA
+ Rock Energy Inc. announced its 2012 CapEx Budget is $30 million
+ United Protection Security Group Inc. agreed to acquired Physical Security Guard Co.
KUDOS
+ kudos to Ronald Mathison; $10 million donation to the Hotchkiss Brain Institute to fund the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education
FINANCINGS - proposed & closed
+ Contact Exploration Inc. is on the market to raise $3,000,000 in flow-through equity
+ Griffiths Energy International Inc. closed $125,040,000 equity financing
+ Husky Energy Inc. is on the market to raise $500 million in senior unsecured debt
+ Ivanhoe Energy Inc. obtained $49.5 million secured credit facility
+ Keyera Corp. closed a $26,445,000 over-allotment of new equity issue
+ Marauder Resources East Coast Inc. is on the market to raise US$15 million in convertible debt
+ MEG Energy Corp. is on the market to increase its revolving credit facility by US$500 million
+ Petro One Energy Corp closed $2.5 million equity financing
+ Pinecrest Energy Inc. closed $60,125,000 equity financing
+ Pure Industrial Reat Estate Trust closed a $34,663,950 over-allottment of trust units
+ Sahara Energy Ltd. closed $490,000 common share issue
+ Softrock Minerals Ltd. closed $140,000 issue of new equity
+ Stratabound Minerals Copr. Is on the market to raise $600,000
+ Tourmaline Oil Corp. is on the market to raise $36 million in flow-through equity
+ TriOil Resources Ltd. closed $35,500,000 new equity financing
QUOTES
“Never, no, never did Nature say one thing and Wisdom say another.” – Edmund Burke
“Wisdome comes to us when it can no longer do any good.” – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
