A logo is seen under a canopy of trees at a Shell petrol station in central London.TOBY MELVILLE/Reuters
DEAL(S) OF THE DAY:
It's all about resources
The would-be biggest liquefied natural gas trader in the world cleared its last major hurdle Wednesday when Royal Dutch Shell shareholders approved the company's $49-billion takeover of BG Group.
BG's shareholders are expected to approve the merger Thursday, paving the way for a Feb. 15 closing.
Meanwhile, another Canadian pension fund is buying a slice of a Spanish oil transport giant.
Borealis Infrastructure, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, will be the second-largest investor in Spain's largest oil transport and storage company. The pension fund gathered up a 24.15-per-cent stake in Companía Logística de Hidrocarburos (CLH) through two recent deals, building out its investment footprint in Europe.
They aren't the only ones betting on an oil recovery.
A pair of banker brothers has started a private equity firm that aims to track an eventual recovery in energy markets.
Paul Colucci, who headed Dundee Securities' London office until last year, and Matt Colucci, previously at AltaCorp Capital Inc., are in the process of identifying investments and amassing capital for the firm, PillarFour Capital, as oil and gas markets sputter.
The focus is on the small- and mid-capitalization Canadian and international energy category, where a growing number of senior executives are looking to start new energy ventures after downsizings that have spread throughout the sector.
On the mining front, people familiar with the matter say Anglo American PLC is considering selling its Brazilian nickel operations as the company races to overhaul its business amid the prolonged slump in commodity prices.
The London-based miner is under immense pressure to strengthen its balance sheet with metal and mineral prices in the dumps. Anglo has already suspended its dividend, announced 85,000 job cuts, as well as plans to divest underperforming assets.
The company aims to raise $4-billion (U.S.) from asset sales and has so far targeted its South African coal, some copper, Australian thermal coal, phosphate and niobium.
FINANCINGS (OR LACK THEREOF)
Gone fishing
Plentyoffish.com founder Markus Frind has $100-million to spend on investments in startups. There's just one problem: He can't find anything he wants to buy.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Laurentian CEO: Changes are coming
Laurentian Bank of Canada has ambitious targets: Double its size, in terms of assets, and get its return-on-equity in line with the big banks by 2022.
The two goals were delivered during the bank's investor day on Tuesday when chief executive officer François Desjardins reviewed some of the bank's recent achievements but also pointed out that big changes are coming.
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