Business in Winnipeg

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by newflyer

Boom may be strong .. but you'll see many more nationals and international deritive trading companies setting up offices in Winnipeg.

I know in Dallas, Houston and even Calgary there are companies which only deal in energy futures. There are also some companies which deal base metal futures, while Winnipeg already contain grain futures, while many other companies conduct risk management through dirivitive trading of various types, depending on the line of business they are in.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming years.

The companies that trade energy futures, swaps and spreads fall into 3 categories.

- Energy Companies (BP, Shell, PG&E, Cargill...)
- Hedge Funds (Centaurus, and formerly Amaranth)
- Investment Banks (Morgan Stanley, UBS Warburg, BMO, RBC, Citibank, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs...)

Most of these companies are already setup in NYC, Houston and/or Calgary. Dallas really doesn't have any energy trading companies. Surprisingly enough NYC has become one of the biggest energy trading cities over Houston and Calgary as of very recently. Investment banks only recently started hedging with NG and Crude futures.

I used to deal directly with the trading floors for over 120 trading companies and I know where most of them reside. You aren't going to see any of them moving into Winnipeg to trade WCE futures and derivatives on the ICE screen. Thats the thing about electronic trading, once it is on someones desk it doesn't really matter where they reside anymore. You may see a small company popping up here of there that is focused solely on WCE and companies like FIMAT or Wellington West may start up or expand but I wouldn't expect anything major.

[1ajs]

https://www.theice.com/showpr.jhtml?id=6605

ATLANTA, GA (June 22, 2007) IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), the leading electronic energy marketplace and soft commodity exchange, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE), the leading agricultural commodity futures and options exchange in Canada and home to the world’s leading canola futures contract. The acquisition of the WCE and its agricultural product suite will complement ICE’s January 2007 acquisition of the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), the world’s leading marketplace for soft commodity contracts.

The WCE currently has an electronic trading services agreement with the Chicago Board of Trade. The exchange owns its own clearing house, as well as a physical delivery structure for its commodity products. Subject to any necessary regulatory approvals, ICE expects to transition trading in WCE’s markets to the ICE electronic platform and to transition the clearing systems to ICE Clear USsm, within the WCE Clearing Corporation regulatory framework. The transition of WCE’s markets to ICE’s electronic trading platform and conversion to ICE Clear technology platform is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter. ICE will maintain all existing WCE staff at the location in Winnipeg under the terms of the agreement.

“We are pleased to announce this agreement with Canada’s leading regulated agriculture exchange as we continue the expansion of ICE global futures and over-the-counter markets,” said ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher. “The addition of Winnipeg’s markets further enhances our agricultural product offering. This franchise brings to ICE a Canadian-based regulated futures exchange and clearing house from which we can develop additional derivative trading and clearing opportunities based on the Canadian markets which are rich in natural resources. We look forward to working with the Canadian staff and regulatory authorities to close this transaction.”

The WCE Canola futures contract is the leading canola contract in the world, with 2.6 million contracts traded last year. The WCE also trades Western Barley futures and Feed Wheat futures. The WCE traces its roots back to 1887, with the founding of the Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange. Trading in futures contracts in wheat, oats and flaxseed began in 1904. A futures market for rapeseed (also known as canola) was launched in 1963. Options on WCE Canola futures were introduced in 1991. Trading volume at the WCE has increased steadily since the transition to electronic trading in 2004, including a 35% increase in contracts traded in 2006.

WCE Holdings Inc. owns the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc., the WCE Clearing Corporation, the Canadian Climate Exchange Inc., and the WCE Industry Services Corporation.

The purchase price for the transaction is $62.08 (Canadian dollars) per common share or $40 million Canadian in the aggregate. The transaction is proceeding by way of plan of arrangement and is subject to approval of WCE shareholders, approval of the Manitoba Securities Commission, which serves as the exchange’s primary regulator, and other conditions which are customary in transactions of this nature. Upon the close of the transaction, WCE will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICE. ICE expects to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2007.

[newflyer]

Hotwire; BP Capital, which is one of the largest energy hedge funds and energy traders is based out of Dallas, so I am not sure where you get your facts, but they are incomplete at best.

Its is also very sad how someone from Calgary feels the need to try to degrade such a positive story for Winnipeg. If you come here just to rain your negitivity than please do us all a favour and stick to the Calgary threads.

The reason ICE wanted the WCE is to have a Canadian commodities clearing house. ICE has also indicated they plan to expanded the amount of futures offeed through Winnipeg.

In completion .. ICE will be the largest commodity dealer in the world, once they complete the deal for the Chicago Board of Trade.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by newflyer

Hotwire; BP Capital, which is one of the largest energy hedge funds and energy traders is based out of Dallas, so I am not sure where you get your facts, but they are incomplete at best.

Its is also very sad how someone from Calgary feels the need to try to degrade such a positive story for Winnipeg. If you come here just to rain your negitivity than please do us all a favour and stick to the Calgary threads.

The reason ICE wanted the WCE is to have a Canadian commodities clearing house. ICE has also indicated they plan to expanded the amount of futures offeed through Winnipeg.

In completion .. ICE will be the largest commodity dealer in the world, once they complete the deal for the Chicago Board of Trade.

It isnt that I am trying to be negative. It is just the reality of how ICE buys small companies. They are ultimately looking to gain dominance in a variety of markets by taking the smaller companies, buying them and then basically owning the liquidity in some specific markets to boost the other markets on their screen. They bought the WCE for their Canadian canola futures market so that they can use the Canadian liquidity and trading to create more spreads, swaps and other financial trades. Being on ICE will probably boost the canola futures market liquidity in Canada but I don't see how that will bring more business to Winnipeg.

This has nothing to do with a Calgary vs Winnipeg thread. I just merely question where all of the hopes and dreams that ICE will bring more business to Winnipeg come from. Look at ICEs history. They have bought other companies and they are ultimately interested in building THEIR business not boosting other cities.

If you have something that shows how more business will come to Winnipeg as a result of this aquisition I would love to hear it. Right now I am just hearing people think that because a big company buys a small local company that somehow magically there will be offices and companies calling Winnipeg home. I personally dont see it.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by h0twired

It isnt that I am trying to be negative. It is just the reality of how ICE buys small companies. They are ultimately looking to gain dominance in a variety of markets by taking the smaller companies, buying them and then basically owning the liquidity in some specific markets to boost the other markets on their screen. They bought the WCE for their Canadian canola futures market so that they can use the Canadian liquidity and trading to create more spreads, swaps and other financial trades. Being on ICE will probably boost the canola futures market liquidity in Canada but I don't see how that will bring more business to Winnipeg.

This has nothing to do with a Calgary vs Winnipeg thread. I just merely question where all of the hopes and dreams that ICE will bring more business to Winnipeg come from. Look at ICEs history. They have bought other companies and they are ultimately interested in building THEIR business not boosting other cities.

If you have something that shows how more business will come to Winnipeg as a result of this aquisition I would love to hear it. Right now I am just hearing people think that because a big company buys a small local company that somehow magically there will be offices and companies calling Winnipeg home. I personally dont see it.

If you read the story in the Globe in Mail last saturday you'd read that ICE plans to expand WCE operations and offer a wider array of derivitives and futures on various commodities. If that statement hold true than Winnipeg will see more trading desks set up shop. It will also mean a larger clearing operation, as contract deals increase.

Until it happens, all I can say is time will tell how this turns out.

[newflyer]

Business confidence is up again in Manitoba, according to the latest business barometer results.
Confidence in Manitoba is higher than the national average, but Shannon Martin of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business tells CJOB Manitoba is still lagging behind other western provinces...


The survey was taken between June 4th and June 15th.

CJOB's Brenton Driedger reporting.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Winnipeg eliminates the business tax ... the outlook will get a further boost.

[newflyer]

From the Winnipeg Chamber Wire (on-line) weekly publication.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Chamber Thrilled with Plan to Eliminate Dreaded Business Tax

Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Dave Angus is urging Winnipeg City Councillors to adopt the recommendations of the Economic Opportunity Commission’s Report on phasing out the City’s business tax.

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has been advocating for the elimination of the business tax for decades and is pleased to see that the Commission’s Final Report, of which Chamber Chair Trevor Sprague was a member, puts forward a plan to accomplish this.

The Chamber has consistently argued that the business tax is nothing more than a tax levied for the privilege of doing business in Winnipeg and a hindrance on our competitiveness, as Winnipeg is one of the few major Canadian cities that still have a business tax.

[Donovanf]

Palliser shifts work to Winnipeg
Couldn't find skilled workers in Alberta

Thu Jun 28 2007

By Geoff Kirbyson
PALLISER Furniture has decided to mothball an Alberta plant and shift most of its work to its Winnipeg operations, because of its inability to find and retain enough skilled workers out west.

Art DeFehr, president and CEO of the Winnipeg-based furniture manufacturer, said the closing of the facility in Airdrie, 25 kilometres north of Calgary, will put 135 people out of work before the end of the year.

DeFehr said it's hard to tell just how many positions will be required at its North Kildonan plants, where the Airdrie work will be shifted.

"The work of 135 people is being transitioned (to Winnipeg)," he said in an interview Wednesday.

He said the Alberta plant primarily handled final assembly on leather furniture for the Canadian market. Preliminary work, including cutting and sewing, is done at Palliser's Mexican facilities.

A limited number of skilled people have been offered the opportunity to transfer to Winnipeg, he said.
Click here to find out more!
DeFehr said he did his best to save the Alberta facility, which has an experienced workforce, many of whom have been employed there for more than two decades. But as they increasingly reached retirement age, their replacements were neither skilled nor loyal to the company.

"The new people were the new Alberta variety -- coming and going and switching jobs," he said.

"We are still a hands-on product. It requires skills, both eye and hand. People don't produce quality products until they've been there for a year or more. In Alberta, a year is a long time. When you get a young workforce turning over a lot, it's an Alberta problem, not just (a Palliser) problem."

He said Winnipeg isn't without labour problems of its own, but the challenges are much more manageable than in Alberta.

Jeff Brownlee, Ottawa-based vice-president of communications and research at the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, said Palliser isn't the first company to experience such labour pains in Alberta and it won't be the last. He said he expects other companies to follow Palliser's lead and relocate to more stable labour markets.

"That's the competitive advantage (for Winnipeg). That's what (Palliser) had to do. If it makes sense to do business in Alberta -- do it, but if not, look elsewhere," he said.

Brownlee said industry projections call for a shortage of 400,000 skilled workers over the next decade in Alberta. That's why it's spearheading a campaign, called ICOSMO (Innovative Canadian Oil Sands Manufacturing Opportunities), which is attempting to have some of the province's manufacturing needs filled in other provinces.

Palliser even attempted to import skilled workers to Airdrie on a temporary basis from its facilities in Mexico, but was stonewalled by the federal government, DeFehr said.
"The government wasn't interested in saving manufacturing jobs, that was the impression we had. I was only keeping the plant there out of loyalty to my people," he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

[1ajs]

yea i read that in todays freep sitting at the pritchard docks this morning.... but what about the union maitinance guys crying about the potential loss of air canada jobs

[1ajs]

No stopping the hotel honcho
Stadium-hotel had ugly death but Ledohowski keeps building

Sat Jun 30 2007



ON the same day in April that Leo Ledohowski announced Canad Inns' ill-fated $520-million domed-stadium/hotel proposal for St. Boniface, the company also set the opening date of its $50-million hotel in Grand Forks, N.D.
Though the stadium project that is dead in the water was 10 times larger than the Canad Inns Grand Forks hotel -- now open and the talk of the town -- the two projects characterize the evolution of Ledohowski as a risk-taking entrepreneur and corporate CEO.

He and the family-owned business started buying suburban hotels in the late '70s and now Canad Inns dominates the Winnipeg suburban hotel market -- it owns seven with another on the way -- to an extent that may be unequalled in any other city in North America.

And while many similar hotels contract out the challenging management of food and beverage operations, Canad Inns has created its own restaurant brand, Aalto's, and its string of bars like Tavern United and Tijuana Yacht Club have been the preferred party spot for Winnipeg nightclubbers for years.

A month after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers turned down his domed stadium proposal in favour of a new stadium on the site of the existing one, Ledohowski did not hide the fact he was off-put by the manner in which the deal went down.

But he didn't spend much time licking his wounds. Neither did he bask in the success of the recently completed Grand Forks hotel connected to the Alerus Center, even though it was a challenging project that opens up a whole range of new possibilities for the company stateside.
For Ledohowski, it's on to the next projects. He's building a $25-million hotel at the Health Sciences Centre, planning the development of a hotel in Bismarck, N.D., and figuring out the redevelopment of the old Metropolitan Theatre on Donald Street into a bar/restaurant/rock 'n' roll museum.

The fact that he's stuck with a $1-million investment in a 160-acre parcel of land in St. Boniface with nothing to develop on it, does not cause undue concern.

"I'll think of something," he said recently. "It's not the biggest risk I have ever taken."

Fellow Winnipeg hotelier Bob Sparrow calls Ledohowski the consummate entrepreneur. And as such, there is always a potential home run with every risk taken.

For instance, one local real estate developer said he'd pay twice that price for that land if he could.

Now in his early 60s, Ledohowski has been around the hotel business all his life. He grew up in the small Ukrainian Interlake community of Poplarfield, where his father ran a trucking business and the local hotel.

"I used to sleep above the beer parlour at the Poplarfield hotel," he remembers. "Man, those guys were noisy."

He may have bought out his brothers earlier this decade, but the connection between business and family is still important to Ledohowski, even though there are about 2,300 employees. (One of his daughters has a leadership role in the development of the HSC property.) The company stages large volunteer events like Canada Day festivities and it has received several industry awards. And that is despite Ledohowski's reputation for sometimes being a bull in a china shop. Some say that a partnership with a group of blue-chip Winnipeggers in the Metropolitan Theatre deal dissolved because Ledohowski wanted to emphasize the commercial food and beverage side of the operation, while his high-profile partners were more interested in a non-profit rock 'n' roll museum.

And it was generally believed he committed a political faux pas by announcing his massive stadium proposal before briefing the premier, considering it depended on significant financial support from the province.

But no one denies the intelligence and incisive business mind that has helped him grow the company into one that generates more than $200 million a year in revenue. Ledohowski earned undergraduate degrees in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and then a master's at McMaster University in Hamilton and went on to teach accounting and economics at Carleton University and the University of Manitoba.

When he came back to teach at the U of M in the late '70s, he started buying motels on Pembina Highway. The Norlander was the first larger hotel he bought, with the Golden Oak Inn in Transcona and the Windsor Park Inn to follow.

The company started to include massive waterslides in addition to nightclubs and restaurants in every hotel -- Ledohowski prefers to call them destination entertainment centres. More recently, Canad Inns has started to forge another niche, developing properties connected to public-sector facilities. It owns hotels attached to the Club Regent Casino, the Keystone Centre in Brandon and the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.

Ledohowski sees a huge future for the company in those kinds of developments. The Health Sciences Centre project -- the only hotel development in the middle of a hospital campus in the country -- will be the next and he has already won a competition for the right to build a hotel in Bismarck, N.D., next to that city's Civic Center. He said there have already been a half-dozen other inquiries for developments of that type.

"The synergy between the hotel and Alerus is very exciting," said Rick Duquette, city administrator in Grand Forks.

Harry Schulz, chief innovation officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said it was a serendipitous meeting between himself and Ledohowski that kick-started the Health Sciences Centre hotel.

"I saw him in the Maple Leaf lounge at the Toronto airport," Schulz recalls. "We had never met, but I went up to him and asked if he would be interested in doing a hotel at the hospital." Little did Schulz know that Ledohowski had been mulling the idea for a couple of years, since his mother's stay in hospital before her death.

He thought her medical care was excellent, but wanted to figure out a way to improve on the food and inconvenience for family and loved ones who wanted to visit her. "Our mandate for the next while will be these public/private partnerships," he said. "I'm not aware of anyone else doing this."

Although he recently announced the appointment of former premier Gary Filmon's chief of staff Taras Sokolyk as CEO of Canad Inns, Ledohowski, who remains the company's owner and board chairman, has the reputation of being a hands-on visionary/leader. Not so long ago at an industry function he was heard to say, "The only board of directors I'm used to dealing with is the right side of my brain communicating with the left side."

In spite of his predisposition to micromanage, Ledohowski is well aware of the need to develop a management team and systems.

"I used to go to every hotel every day. I don't anymore," he said. "I was a perpetual motion machine."

Now the corporation has extensive training courses for all its employees and has won awards for being among the best-managed companies in the country.

Ledohowski is chairman of the Manitoba Hotel Association, but Jim Baker, its executive director, said he has been a source of inspiration for members, especially rural ones, for a long time.

He said Ledohowski has got the association working on a couple of projects to figure out a way for the rural hotel operators to generate financial information that will make it easier for them to analyze results and another to figure out ways to make it easier for rural hotels to better capitalize on the food service side of the business.

"He's taken that upon himself," Baker said. "The way he sees it, those rural hotels are giving away the best part of the business." martin.cash@freepress.mb.caaid. "The way he sees it, those rural hotels are giving away the best part of the business."


martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca


1,011 -- total number of rooms including 192 in newly opened Grand Forks hotel:


* Club Regent Casino Hotel -- 146 rooms starting at $114 -- rated 3-Diamond by CAA


* Canad Inns Polo Park -- 111 rooms starting at $109 -- rated 3-Diamond by CAA

* Canad Inns Fort Garry -- 107 rooms starting at $109 -- rated 3-Diamond by CAA


* Canad Inns Windsor Park -- 54 rooms starting at $99 -- rated 2-Diamond by CAA


* Canad Inns Transcona -- 50 rooms starting at $99 -- rated 2-Diamond by CAA


* Canad Inns Garden City -- 55 rooms starting at $99 -- rated 2-Diamond by CAA

* Fort Garry EXPRESS -- 36 rooms starting at $75 -- rated 2-Diamond by CAA


* Portage la Prairie -- 92 rooms starting at $99 -- rated 2-Diamond by CAA


* Canad Inns Brandon -- 159 rooms starting at $109 -- rated 3-Diamond CAA


* Canad Inns Grand Forks -- 201 rooms -- starting at $109 (just opened -- not yet rated)


7.5 million -- the number of annual customer served throughout the chain of properties.

36,000 -- number of bar, restaurant, meeting and convention centre seats throughout the system.


2,300 -- total number of employees

Canad Inns Health Science Centre

* The company is expecting to start construction this fall or early next year on a 19-floor, $25 million hotel connected to the Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine.

* The hotel will have between 160 and 200 rooms.

* It will be the only hotel in the country built on the grounds of a hospital.

Canad Inns Bismarck, N.D.

* The company has won a request for proposal review to build a $50 million, 16-floor, 260 room hotel and entertainment centre next to the Civic Centre in the capital of North Dakota.

* Construction date has yet to be determined.

Canad Inns Metropolitan Centre

* The company has purchased the historic Metropolitan Theatre on Donald Street.

* The intention of turning the boarded-up movie theatre that has been closed since 1987 into some sort of food-and-beverage facility with non-profit rock 'n' roll museum component attached.


St. Boniface Public Market site

* The company recently paid $1 million for a 160-acre parcel of land in St. Boniface with the intention of building a domed football stadium/hotel/entertainment complex. * The proposal is not going ahead and the company has not disclosed its intentions for the site.

[Only The Lonely..]

Yaay, dad's name is in the paper.

[flatlander]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

Yaay, dad's name is in the paper.

any hints?

[Only The Lonely..]

Originally Posted by flatlander

any hints?

Here you go..

Harry Schulz, chief innovation officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said it was a serendipitous meeting between himself and Ledohowski that kick-started the Health Sciences Centre hotel.

"I saw him in the Maple Leaf lounge at the Toronto airport," Schulz recalls. "We had never met, but I went up to him and asked if he would be interested in doing a hotel at the hospital." Little did Schulz know that Ledohowski had been mulling the idea for a couple of years, since his mother's stay in hospital before her death.

I remember when mom and dad 'designed' the Asper building at St.B. It was late one night and they were doing the dishes after supper, mom said the building should have a cone, two years later the I.H Asper centre was built with a cone facing the river front.

Everytime I look at that building, I always think about how my parents dinner time conversation resulted in something that will exist long after i'm old and gone. Hopefully i'll get to be 90 one day and can yammer to some kid at a bus stop about that story.

[flatlander]

^^Neat story. Thanks for that.

[1ajs]

hehe kool only cheers to a long life

[Marc B.]

Good news. From the Free Press

Winnipeg housing market on a tear


Updated at 11:36 AM




Winnipeg’s resale housing market will remain red-hot through the remainder of 2007, with selling prices continuing to climb at a double-digit pace and unit sales increasing by close to nine per cent, according to the latest housing market forecast from Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
“Winnipeg’s resale housing market sizzled through the first quarter, and will continue to do so for the remainder of the year,” the firm said in its mid-year forecast released today.

New monthly sales figures released today by the WinnipegREALTORS Association offer further proof of how hot the local housing market is this year.

The WRA (formerly the Winnipeg Real Estate Board) said June was the second-busiest month in its 104-year history in terms of both unit sales and dollar volume of sales.

It said 1,562 properties were sold during the month through its Multiple Listing Service for a total of $281.7 million.

The unit-sales total was a five-per-cent improvement over the 1,487 homes sold in June of last year, which had been the previous best June on record. The dollar-volume total was 21 per cent higher than the $232.8 million recorded in June, 2006.
Last month’s sales and dollar-volume totals were also the second-best monthly totals on record, the association said. The only month with better numbers was May of this year, when more than 1,600 properties changed hands and the dollar volume soared to nearly $300 million.

In its housing forecast, Royal LePage predicts the average selling price of a resale home in Winnipeg is expected to jump to $170,000 by the end of this year, which would be an 11.9-per-cent gain from last year. Unit sales will grow by 8.7 per cent to 13,370 units.

“While average house prices are likely to moderate slightly, as they historically do as we move away from the busy spring season, the housing market will remain in the seller’s favour,” said John Froese, a broker with Royal LePage Prime Real Estate in Winnipeg.

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by Marc B.

Good news. From the Free Press

How is that good news?

I thought one of the big draws to Winnipeg was cheap houses.

[vid]

Don't worry, they're still cheap compared to places like Calgary and Regina.

[Greco Roman]

Originally Posted by vid

Don't worry, they're still cheap compared to places like Calgary and Regina.

..............AND REGINA?????????????????????????

This is how you know when things are bad.

[newflyer]

Originally Posted by Greco Roman

..............AND REGINA?????????????????????????

This is how you know when things are bad.

Ex-Sask people are starting to file out of Calgary now.. and move back home. I think most people realize that Calgary has peaked.

Ex-Peggers will start heading home too I am sure. .. just there are far fewer Manitobans in Calgary than people from Sask. I did meet a guy from Winnipeg last week .. he works for Westjet. He seemed determined to return tp Winnipeg within the year. We had a very good chat.