The Vancouver Business Thread

[rofina]

Originally Posted by supercanuck

They should also place "reasonable and customary limits" on how much places like Craftsman can charge. >$1500 to repaint a bumper seems ridiculous to me.

I used to think this too - until you actually consider what goes into cars now.

Any newer model, you have cameras, back up sensors, air bag sensors, adjustable lights, fog lights.

All this has to be disconnected, reconnect, repaired, replaced.

Add to that paint costs for many color matched metallic bumpers these days.

Is it always justifiable? No. But the costs are not quite as outrageous as it seems on the surface.

[SFUVancouver]

Would model-specific repair costs not be factored into one's insurance premiums? It's likely not sufficiently correlated with vehicle repmacement cost, since a lot of technology (back up camera, etc.) is now practically standard on virtually all models.

My '16 Subaru Forester is an anachronism for its model year in that it doesn't have back-up/bumper sensors and, frankly, I like that it doesn't. It means that there is less to break and I've been successfully driving for half my life without ever bumping into anything while parking.

[whatnext]

I found this comment interesting with regards to takeover of Anbang by the government of China:

...Schotter, a former business executive in China, said it is likely Beijing will take a case-by-case approach with each Anbang property, since the move to take over Anbang was ostensibly to curtail “illegal business practices” of the company and to manage its potentially problematic levels of corporate debt. In that sense, he surmised that overseas properties acquired by Anbang at a premium – with no consideration of cash flow or business efficiencies – will more likely be considered for a sale.

“It all depends on which ones of the investments yield positive returns and cash flow in the short run,” Schotter said. “Bentall Centre is certainly not in this category, as it was acquired at a premium. The question is, will it be sold at a loss? Retirement Concepts has the potential to generate cash flow and growth – so that’s more likely to be kept.”...(bold mine)
http://www.richmond-news.com/news/sp...rty-1.23196156

The problem with so much Chinese investment in real estate in a nutshell.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I found this comment interesting with regards to takeover of Anbang by the government of China:

...Schotter, a former business executive in China, said it is likely Beijing will take a case-by-case approach with each Anbang property, since the move to take over Anbang was ostensibly to curtail “illegal business practices” of the company and to manage its potentially problematic levels of corporate debt. In that sense, he surmised that overseas properties acquired by Anbang at a premium – with no consideration of cash flow or business efficiencies – will more likely be considered for a sale.

“It all depends on which ones of the investments yield positive returns and cash flow in the short run,” Schotter said. “Bentall Centre is certainly not in this category, as it was acquired at a premium. The question is, will it be sold at a loss? Retirement Concepts has the potential to generate cash flow and growth – so that’s more likely to be kept.”...(bold mine)
http://www.richmond-news.com/news/sp...rty-1.23196156

The problem with so much Chinese investment in real estate in a nutshell.

That really defines the global property markets.

The only way any of these purchases make sense is in the context of an ever expanding balance sheet.

Any traditional valuation metric is out the window if you are counting on capital gains via sale/flip - the issue here was that Chinese companies were selling to Chinese companies.

If this party comes to an end, there will be a serious re-valuation of assets world wide.

[zahav]

Whether justified or not, under the NDP the job creation rate has plummeted, and BC is now behind PEI, Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta in job creation. I have watched the figures each month since the summer, and the employment creation has either stgnated or declined. March was no exception. We went from close to 4% year over year growth, to just 1.3%, and from 1st place to 5th. I understand they take a decidedly stronger postion on throwing money at other issues, but the honeymoon of them riding the strong economy and thinking it would carry on despite their lack of direction is showing itself now...

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti.../t003a-eng.htm

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by zahav

Whether justified or not, under the NDP the job creation rate has plummeted, and BC is now behind PEI, Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta in job creation. I have watched the figures each month since the summer, and the employment creation has either stgnated or declined. March was no exception. We went from close to 4% year over year growth, to just 1.3%, and from 1st place to 5th. I understand they take a decidedly stronger postion on throwing money at other issues, but the honeymoon of them riding the strong economy and thinking it would carry on despite their lack of direction is showing itself now...

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti.../t003a-eng.htm

It's harder and harder to attract talent to Vancouver because of outrageous housing costs. That's bound to be a drag on the economy.

[csbvan]

It also seems that BC has been at or close to full employment for months. We have had a sub-5% unemployment rate for ages.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by csbvan

It also seems that BC has been at or close to full employment for months. We have had a sub-5% unemployment rate for ages.

we ? they ?

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

we ? they ?

It takes time to correct these things, after 9 months apparently I'm still not sure where I refer to as 'we'.

[zahav]

The housing is a drag for sure, but really the NDP have to emphasize the economy more, they can still keep the social benfits and that theme, but they need to start making the province more welcoming to business again

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by zahav

The housing is a drag for sure, but really the NDP have to emphasize the economy more, they can still keep the social benfits and that theme, but they need to start making the province more welcoming to business again

Can you give some specific examples of what that might look like?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by zahav

The housing is a drag for sure, but really the NDP have to emphasize the economy more, they can still keep the social benfits and that theme, but they need to start making the province more welcoming to business again

Hmm, you mean by doing things like continuing the Site C dam or offering incentives for LNG?

O were you thinking of the BC Liberal tack of money laundering through casinos and real estate?

[zahav]

The decision to continue Site C and support LNG came after lots of pressure, and they didn't seem like a willing partner in either. Again, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, and not saying they are the cause of any bad employment numbers. But they should be keeping an eye out on these employment stats, there has been an unmistakable trend for the past 6 months or so, from large year on year employment gains, to falling behind. Unemployment is still lowest in the country, so I am not saying things are bad, but they should be watching the employment gains carefully, and not absently let it get like the late 90s and then have to recover again

[SpongeG]

Foreign corporate acquisitions skyrocket in B.C. (interactive map)

By Albert Van Santvoort | April 3, 2018



Corporate stock and debt deals in the province hit $14.4 billion in 2017.

The value of B.C.’s largest corporate stock and debt deals hit $14.4 billion in 2017, 13.2% higher than 2016’s total and the first increase in four years.

...

https://biv.com/article/2018/04/fore...nteractive-map

[Sheba]

Amazon Announces Plans to Expand Vancouver Tech Hub and Create 3,000 High Tech Jobs

Amazon today announced plans to expand its Vancouver Tech Hub and create an additional 3,000 jobs in fields including e-commerce technology, cloud computing, and machine learning. To mark the company's latest investment in Canada, Amazon welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to an event with its Vancouver employees, at the site of its future 416,000 square foot Development Centre in Vancouver. Today's announcement is the latest milestone in the company's ongoing job creation in Canada, where it already employs over 6,000 people.

...

Amazon will expand into a brand new location in QuadReal's The Post redevelopment when the project opens in 2022. With state-of-the-art amenities and an easily accessible location for its employees, Amazon's new Development Centre will sit above a city landmark. This is in addition to Amazon's current Vancouver offices – including its 156,000 square foot location in TELUS Garden which opened to Amazon employees in 2015. On top of today's announcement, Amazon also confirmed last November its plans to expand into another downtown site on Dunsmuir Street, which will open in 2020. The company expects to grow to 5,000 corporate employees in Vancouver in the coming years across all of its locations in the city.

...

[jollyburger]

Glad the 200,000 square feet of retail is being kept.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Amazon Announces Plans to Expand Vancouver Tech Hub and Create 3,000 High Tech Jobs

On top of the 1,000 jobs that they had committed to adding, and their existing workforce of 1,000, this means Vancouver will be home to 5,000 Amazon employees over the next five years.

[Hot Rod]

http://mynorthwest.com/972430/amazon...ver-expansion/

Amazon’s plans to expand in Vancouver B.C. with a new 416,000-square-foot office building. It will allow the company to add 3,000 new jobs to the city.

I'm certain this growth in Vancouver means Toronto is out of the running on HQ2. Very likely that it will go to Chicago, it just has everything a business could want without the hassle.

[Sheba]

China sentences founder of Anbang — which owns billions in B.C. assets — to 18 years in prison

Chinese state media say a court in Shanghai has sentenced the founder of the Chinese insurance company that owns billions in B.C. assets to 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to fraudulently raising billions of dollars from investors.

The Xinhua News Agency said the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court handed down the sentence Thursday against Wu Xiaohui, the former chairman of Anbang Insurance Group.

Wu, who founded privately owned Anbang in 2004, has been accused of misleading investors and diverting money to his own use. He was detained last year and regulators seized control of Anbang in February. He was shown on state TV in March admitting guilt.

Wu initially had denied his guilt at his one-day trial, according to an earlier court statement.

In 2016, Anbang spent more than $1 billion to purchase the Bentall Centre office towers and mall in downtown Vancouver.

In 2017, it completed a more-than-$1 billion purchase of Vancouver-based Retirement Concepts, B.C.’s biggest provider of seniors’ care. Anbang is also believed to own the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel, which it bought from Toronto-based InnVest for $90 million in 2016.

[Sheba]

I think this is the right section for this.

"New Orleans, Collision's home for three years, is a very special town, but as Collision grows we needed to find a bigger base with more global connectivity. I believe that Canada and Toronto have lived to some extent in the technology shadow of America, but that's changing and changing fast," said Paddy Cosgrave, CEO of Collision and Web Summit, in a day-one press release. "It's true that some international tech entrepreneurs have been denied visas to attend Collision in New Orleans in recent years. At the same time, Canada now fast-tracks international work visas."

I wonder how many conferences will end up moving to Canada because of denied visas. Some people on here didn't think Trump's policies would make much of a difference.