The Vancouver Business Thread

[spm2013]

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[casper]

Originally Posted by spm2013

The problem is they've been waiting for those looser visa restrictions for a long time. Can't count out the stupidity of the US government

If the US companies eventually move back to the US the impact will of all of those jobs will still remain. A good percentage of the staff will decide to stay, those are the people who will found or work for start-ups that pop-up if the big multi-nationals leave.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by casper

If the US companies eventually move back to the US the impact will of all of those jobs will still remain. A good percentage of the staff will decide to stay, those are the people who will found or work for start-ups that pop-up if the big multi-nationals leave.

Could you imagine, maybe away down the road, Vancouver having a 'silicon valley?' Ottawa seems to hold the current Canadian title.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Could you imagine, maybe away down the road, Vancouver having a 'silicon valley?' Ottawa seems to hold the current Canadian title.

It depends what you mean by Silicon Valley. If you mean a concentration of tech companies, then sure. But Silicon Valley is more than a concentration of tech companies or start-ups. It's a concentration of talent, money, services and risk-taking culture -- among other things -- that is pretty much unique anywhere in the world. It'd be great to see something like this in Vancouver, but I think it's more likely the next Silicon Valley will be in Shenzhen, Bangalore or maybe Cambridge/Oxford

[PaperTiger]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Could you imagine, maybe away down the road, Vancouver having a 'silicon valley?' Ottawa seems to hold the current Canadian title.

I think Kitchener-Waterloo is the generally regarded as the closest thing we have to Silicon Valley.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Anyone know what is going on in the RBC Tower? Four of the upper floors are completely empty at the moment and there have been some crews working all night long. Any idea what company used to lease those floors and which new one might be moving in?

I wouldn't think RBC is occupying much of the building, despite the name...

RBC still has a big presence in Vancouver, particularily their wealth management operations, the formal Philips Hagar North. As well they actually need to maintain a certain percentage of the building or they will lose their signage, unless they are simply paying an annual rental fee for the rights, but that's pretty uncommon.

Originally Posted by Hourglass

I wonder how much of Microsoft and Amazon's growth in Vancouver goes away with looser US visa restrictions. Presumably as the cost advantage and skilled workforce is there, Vancouver will remain attractive.

A lot of it has, and it's certainly a concern that one reason to locate operations to Vancouver would go with visa easing in the US but first who says that is ever going to happen and second, like you said, the visa issue is not the only advantage Vancouver has.

Originally Posted by casper

If the US companies eventually move back to the US the impact will of all of those jobs will still remain. A good percentage of the staff will decide to stay, those are the people who will found or work for start-ups that pop-up if the big multi-nationals leave.

That is a pretty common occurrence. We often lament the shut down of this or that video game firm, but most of the talent does not just leave, but works for a different firm or starts its own. Once a creative/service industry achieves a critical mass it is rare for it to disappear.

[spm2013]

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[craneSpotter]

Great news!

Sony Pictures Imageworks to move head office to Vancouver

Sony visual effects arm quits California to employ up to 700 in downtown Pacific Centre space


Vancouver Sun, May 29, 2014

VANCOUVER -- Visual effects company Sony Pictures Imageworks will relocate its head office from Culver City, Calif. to Vancouver and move into a new 74,000-square-foot headquarters in Pacific Centre next year, the company announced late Thursday.

The downtown Pacific Centre space — above a new Nordstrom store — will accommodate up to 700 employees.

Imageworks, which recently completed work on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Edge of Tomorrow, employs about 150 workers in 32,000 square feet of space in Yaletown.

[Klazu]

Wow, that was unexpected but amazing news!

"Argula said the two biggest factors behind the head office shift include Vancouver’s growing base of talented visual effects workers and provincial tax breaks designed to attract motion picture industry work."

I hope that many that were laid off when Pixar left Vancouver will now be employed by Sony.

[Genauso]

The timing is good, ACM SIGGRAPH is the professional organization for digital arts and their huge annual conference returns to Vancouver in August.
http://s2014.siggraph.org

Vancouver hosted for the first time in 2011, and it currently rotates at a cycle of 2 years in LA/California and 1 in Vancouver. I think three big factors beyond the existing local industry was Olympics, VISAs for international visitors, and proximity to both Hollywood and Asia. Vancouver may be nowhere near as large as LA, but it does everyone good to move around to keep things interesting.

Growth at the periphery is great, it's under rated compared to being the best and biggest because those remain only hoping and waiting after any amount of planning and investment.

I was not impressed with the cost of the new convention center, but at least it is an achievement in design and operation. An attached theater would be very useful, maybe they can install a floating one... or down where a space is reserved for a parks board concession between the parking lot and the seawall next to the stairs at the NW corner?

[giallo]

That's fantastic news to go along with the Microsoft and Google office expansions.

700 new mid to high-paying jobs downtown is nothing to sneeze at.

[SFUVancouver]

^ Agreed. Should they all choose to buy or rent in towers or SEFC-style midrises, they will fill up between two and three whole buildings. Add in Microsoft and Amazon's new staffs and you have yourself a small neighbourhood's worth of people.

[craneSpotter]

Hmmm. Another proposed refinery - this one apparently has First Nations aboard and Chinese financing... so I've heard.

Pacific Future Energy Corp. Announces $10-Billion Bitumen Refinery Project for B.C. North Coast

CNW June 10, 2014

Company will build the world's greenest refinery, a near zero net carbon (NZNC) emission refinery for exporting processed Northern Alberta oil

VANCOUVER, June 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Pacific Future Energy Corporation (Pacific Future Energy) announced today its plan to build and operate the world's greenest refinery on British Columbia's north coast. While we believe it's in Canada's national strategic interest to gain access to international markets for Alberta's oil, especially the fast growing Asian market, the company believes it shouldn't be done at the sacrifice of BC's coast or broader environment and must be done in full partnership with First Nations....

...About Pacific Future Energy

Vancouver-based Pacific Future Energy is a company that has been developed to finance, design and construct the world's greenest oil refinery in British Columbia, Canada. The management team consists of leaders from the venture capital, corporate and government sectors, who share the belief that while it's in Canada's national strategic interest to diversify its markets for oil, it should be done in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and while ensuring the protection of Canada's west coast. For more information about the company www.pacificfutureenergy.com

[spm2013]

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[LeftCoaster]

Little BIV story:

Calgary biotech moving to Vancouver, going public

By Nelson Bennett
Fri Jun 6, 2014 9:18am PST

A new Calgary-based biotech focused on diabetes and hypertension will go public later this month in a reverse takeover with a local junior mining company and relocate to Vancouver.

Xortx Pharma Corp. – a biotech startup whose management team has ties with Vancouver’s Cardiome Pharma Corp. (TSX:COM) – is focused on treating hypertension, insulin resistance and diabetes-related kidney disease with a reformulated drug – Xorlo – a variation of which has been used to successfully treat gout.

The company hopes to raise $6 million to $9 million through a reverse takeover involving African Queen Mines Ltd. (TSX-V: AQ) in late June or early July. The money is to help pay for clinical trials.

Xortx founder Allen Davidoff said he plans to relocate the company to Vancouver, in part because that is where African Queen is located, although Davidoff also has ties here.

“Vancouver has a wealth of life science professionals, capital market folks who understand the life sciences theme and a biotech research infrastructure that’s very attractive,” Davidoff said.

Davidoff was a senior scientist with Cardiome before he moved to Calgary and founded his own company, Stem Cell Therapeutics Corp. – now Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: SSS).

Co-founder Alan Moore is also a former Cardiome scientist, as are two other members of the Xortx management team.

Xorlo is a reformulated drug based on the primary chemistry of a drug that is already approved for gout.

One of the things gout has in common with hypertension, insulin resistance and diabetes-related kidney disease is high levels of serum uric acid, Davidoff said. It is believed that Xorlo can be used to lower those levels to treat three types of diseases. However, the company will focus first on hypertension.

http://www.biv.com/article/20140606/BIV0...biotech-moving-to-vancouver-going-public

[craneSpotter]

No indication on how large the office will be, small I'm sure. China National already owns a 39 percent stake in a small Vancouver-based gold producer called China Gold International.

Also, there is talk about China National and Barrick doing some business together - involving Barrick's non-core assets.

And hey, it's not LNG related

China’s biggest gold mining company sets up operations in Vancouver

By Frik Els, Mining.com
Fri Jun 20, 2014

China's largest gold mining company, China National Gold, is officially setting up shop in junior mining hub Vancouver this week as part of a push into new markets and its global acquisition strategy.

President Xin Song told the Wall Street Journal ahead of the June 18 event the Beijing-based firm is on the hunt for global acquisitions and partnerships in gold, silver and copper...

...Rumours were circulating last year that China Gold could buy into Vancouver’s Ivanhoe Mines, Robert Friedland's latest creation with copper projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and platinum mines in South Africa.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Little BIV story:
http://www.biv.com/article/20140606/BIV0...biotech-moving-to-vancouver-going-public

Could this be a possible kick-start to a biotech / pharmaceutical sector in Vancouver?
I know Montreal's got big time pharma locked-up, but Vancouver has all kinds of medical research.

[spm2013]

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[SFUVancouver]

The Alberta Pharma company buying the BC mining company and taking (presumably small) office space in the city is a perfect example of Vancouver's office market. Small cap players need to be located near one another in the CBD, need space quickly, and may grow substantially by market cap and modestly by employee count and floorspace requirements. You can have an absolutely giant mining company by market cap with some pretty serious salaries and a global presence but their office footprint is still comparable to an English language school.

[PaperTiger]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

The Alberta Pharma company buying the BC mining company and taking (presumably small) office space in the city is a perfect example of Vancouver's office market. Small cap players need to be located near one another in the CBD, need space quickly, and may grow substantially by market cap and modestly by employee count and floorspace requirements. You can have an absolutely giant mining company by market cap with some pretty serious salaries and a global presence but their office footprint is still comparable to an English language school.

True, but there are almost a thousand of those types of companies in the City. On aggregate they require significant amounts of space. that is why this new crop of AAA's are good news for companies further down the ladder.The domino effect of vacancies will free up smaller or older spaces, flexible sublets and the like.