Grain Company to Buy Canadian Crop Terminal
Canadian grain marketer CWB said on Monday it has agreed to buy Great Sandhills Terminal Ltd, a farmer-owned 20,000-tonne grain handling facility in Leader, Saskatchewan, for $16.3 million. The deal, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, is expected to close by Sept. 1. It also includes a majority stake in a short-line railway in Saskatchewan. CWB did not release further financial details. CWB, which was previously known as the Canadian Wheat Board, has made several deals to piece together a grain-handling network in the past year as it moves toward operating outside of government control. Ottawa stripped the board of its western wheat and barley marketing monopoly in 2012 and agreed to guarantee CWB's borrowings until it is sold or develops a plan to be self-sustaining by 2016.
Arctic Energy Exploration Efforts Heat Up
Oil and gas—and also mining—are the drivers today propelling Arctic maritime operations and the construction of new vessels able to operate in extreme latitudes. While the gas and oil resources can be recovered in the Arctic or far north and shipped to markets by sea or pipeline, the cost of doing must be balanced upon the global market price for those commodities. Ships and marine structures able to operate in the harsh conditions of the extreme latitudes require special designs and construction techniques.
Canada Grain Handlers to Expand, Crops Overwhelm System
Three Canadian grain handlers said this week that they will expand facilities to handle the country's crops, after a record-smashing harvest overwhelmed the transportation system. Viterra, owned by Glencore Xstrata PLC, said on Thursday it will spend C$100 million ($92 million) to boost grain shipping through Port Metro Vancouver, while CWB, formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board, said it is building a second Western Canadian grain elevator. Global commodities trader Cargill Ltd said on Wednesday that it would expand an elevator site in Manitoba. The moves come as the country's grain handlers and railways have struggled to move a record harvest to port, causing a massive backlog.
Wilbur Ross-backed Diamond S Shipping drops IPO
Diamond S Shipping Group Inc's largest shareholder, Wilbur Ross, said the tanker company's initial public offering had been canceled because the suggested price was too low, Bloomberg reported, citing an email from the billionaire investor. "We are not opposed to being publicly owned but not at any price," Bloomberg quoted Ross as saying. The final proposal by the underwriters was not acceptable, he said. Ross's company, WL Ross & Co, owns a 32 percent stake in Diamond S Shipping. The tanker company had been scheduled to price its offering on Tuesday. The company said last month it planned to sell 14 million shares at between $14 and $16 each.
