Dec. 11, 2006: Propinquity

Update 3 added Dec. 15. 2006 re: London's AIM exchange - Alternative Investment Market

Bumped up. All new posts are below this. Also, see Update 2: I have added to what was posted earlier.

Caveat: I am an amateur in reading about these subjects ... but I have been noting so much cross-pollination and the same names keep popping up so, with that in mind, I am posting these together. There may be no connections and nothing of note, so ignore and move on. FHTR


It's wonderful how the concerns of various groups coalesce ... or appear to ... academe , "doing good" for students , academics , mentors , foundations , mining , mining engineering , investment banking , bank profits , taxpayer money

First, some background and / or related items, then the current news below those items -- Street race: Now TD vies for the prize

re: Toronto Dominion Bank, TD Securities, Frank McKenna and ranging over Falconbridge, CVRD, mining and energy, oil sands, Air Canada, AIM funds, Cheung Kong and its partners, Deutsche Bank and Bilfinger Burger, Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC, Toronto-Dominion advisory deals, equity deals and more


Background

Dec. 5, 2006: Ring around the rosie ...

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006
/12/dec-5-2006-ring-around-rosie.html

Scroll down to this section: The Pierre Trudeau Foundation - Scholar in Mining Engineering Grant -- Global Citizenship - Canadian Taxpayers' Contribution

Sacha Trudeau on Global Citizenship , UBC Report, Nov 3, 2006, Public Affairs, UBC / University of British Columbia

[....] The challenges facing our global community were addressed by a range of speakers, including Ginger Gibson, a UBC PhD student in mining engineering and Trudeau Foundation scholar [first recipient of the Trudeau Foundation grant], who described her research experiences in Northern Canadian and Latin American communities impacted by harmful mining practices. [....]

Not exactly how it all began, my son, but moving in that direction , a bit of Memory Lane from Industry Canada, 2002.

OTTAWA, February 20, 2002 — Industry Minister Allan Rock today announced the endowment of a $125 million fund [ from the taxpayers of Canada ]
[....] The fund will be administered by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, [....]
[....] “These fellowships will encourage the exchange of knowledge by these leading scholars using modern technology network.
[....] Members of the committee included [I find it is always worth checking these things] [....] The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is an independent, non-profit corporation which will be administered by distinguished Canadians
[....] Up to 25 fellowships each year ... $50,000 per year for up to four years, and ... a stipend of $35,000 and an allowance of $15,000 for tuition, fees, and travel expenses. [ That could be $100,000 a year. ]
[....] international students
[....] its investment activities
[....] Directors of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation [This is a 'must check' list of mainly Liberals. though Conservative taxpayers helped fund this non-profit, charitable foundation.]

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Update 2: I have added to what was posted earlier.

More Background

The halls of academe , CVRD Brazil , Trudeau Foundation Mining Engineering Grant , UBC Mining engineering , internships in Brazil at CVRD , Vancouver-based Teck Cominco Ltd. , Xstrata , Falconbridge and Inco , Noranda , Sumitomo , and more


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Aug. 12, 2006: #2
COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE (CVRD)

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com
/2006/08/aug-12-2006-2.html

Search:
Xstrata's bid was cleared by Canadian foreign-ownership regulators [Who are the regulators? Are they appointees?]
The United Steelworkers union, which represents workers at both Falconbridge and Inco
Brazil's CVRD , Vancouver-based Teck Cominco Ltd.
Phelps Dodge
Caldwell Securities
COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE (CVRD)

Madrid bolsa: CVRD info

largest global producer and exporter of iron ore and pellets
manganese and ferro alloys

aluminum (bauxite, alumina and primary aluminum),
vast reserves of iron ore, bauxite, copper/gold, kaolin, manganese, nickel and potash.

[....] CVRD headquarters and main assets and operations are located in Brazil, with offices in New York, Brussels, Tokyo and Shanghai. It owns companies in the USA (California Steel Industry, San Bernardino, Ca.), France (RDME, Dunkerque), Norway (RDMN, Mo I Rana) and Bahrain (GIIC). [....]

Noranda Inc.
Noranda ultimately merged with Toronto-based Falconbridge Ltd. Switzerland-based Xstrata PLC is poised to acquire Falconbridge
you want to be in the metals and materials that China needs and doesn't have.

internships in Brazil at CVRD -- part of the UBC mining engineering course. UBC 4th Year Mining Engineering Trip to Brazil: Sponsor report Package -- pdf [Remember, the Trudeau Foundation just awarded the foundation's first mining engineering grant to a UBC mining engineering student ... coincidental.]

The Keevils took control of the company in 1959, and today share a majority voting stake with Sumitomo of Japan
Should the Keevils and Sumitomo pledge to give up their super voting shares in return for common shares

David Kilgour and David Matas: Investigators into Organ Harvesting
Reply to Chinese Regime
Organ Procurement and Judicial Execution in China, August 1994.

See the comments for additional information with links provided by a reader, Bobby Fisher.

End of Update 2

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Current news - worth reading carefully

Check the tables in the newspaper. All the big players are mentioned ... just one big happy family.

Street race: Now TD vies for the prize , By Sinclair Stewart, Boyd Erman and Andrew Willis, Saturday, December 9, 2006, B6

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/free
headlines/LAC/20061209/RTDCOVER09/business/ROB

[...] The thing about Frank McKenna .... call centres in a single location [....]

... playing rainmaker on behalf of Toronto-Dominion Bank [....]

"There's no doubt that the way in which I'm being used is for air cover at the highest levels," Mr. McKenna explained .... once that initial introduction is made ... landing the business."

[....] The firm has grabbed coveted advisory roles on Xstrata's recent $18-billion takeover of Falconbridge Inc. and, most recently, Air Canada's combined initial public offering and secondary stock issue, which raised $525-million. [....]

TD Securities is now preaching teamwork, with traders and investment bankers working hand in glove ...

[....] behemoths CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

... TD Securities story -- it has sort of been our stealth bomber," [....]

... investment banking [....]

[....] Canadian dealers in the last underwriting league tables, which measure the value of IPOs and other equity deals a bank brings to the market each year.

[....] TD Securities [....] Toronto-centric [....] a specialist in media and communications

[....] buy Newcrest Capital in 2000 [....]

... Mr. Clark and Mr. Dorrance ... a strategy for gaining market share ... loans to deepen ties with clients. .... expand ... mining and energy ... early stage companies in the oil sands.

The key, though, was using its real strength -- trading -- to build a reputation with companies and garner information that could be used in pitches by investment bankers. The traders provide a key link to the big institutional investors who gobble up stock sales and approve merger transactions, and TD realized it could sell that expertise.

[....] Keith Carrigan, CEO of BFI Canada Income Fund.

... Air Canada's IPO.

[....] And of course, it didn't hurt that Mr. McKenna was a former director on the board, who could help arrange a meeting with Robert Milton, the head of Air Canada's parent company.

... awarded a co-lead spot on the airline's IPO [....]

For TD, getting a piece of Air Canada ...

When Coors was running into trouble with its purchase of Molson [....]

Coors was already getting advice from Deutsche Bank AG, but .... Molson's biggest shareholder -- Toronto-based AIM Funds Management Inc. ...

[Digression:

Update 3 added Dec. 15. 2006 re: London's AIM exchange - Alternative Investment Market

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 25, 2006: 1

The London exchange can be favoured by companies keen to avoid Canadian stock exchange requirements or U.S. regulations.

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Dec. 4, 2006: #1

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com
/2006/12/dec-4-2006-1.html

Previously, I posted Dec. 4, 2006 #1 "Li Ka-shing: the toll collector , Oct. 15, 2005, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia" , The selling job ... no worries mate

Apparently, according to this article, China's young don't fear debt any more than our own do. Isn't it wonderful? Great opportunities for Canadian banking and finance, mortgage companies ... and related China's Gen Y keen to spend, spend, spend , Roma Luciw, Globe and Mail, Dec. 1, 06,

Just like any family ... private foundations ... billions of dollars ... international networks ... friends ... Li Ka-shing, son lock horns over deal to sell telco stake , Paul Waldie, Globe and Mail, Nov. 29, 2006, "surprising player: a Canadian charitable foundation." "rules governing private foundations", mention of "Cheung Kong and its partners, Deutsche Bank and Bilfinger Burger."

End of digression.]

[....] TD bankers took a similar flight to London this spring to meet with Anglo-Swiss miner Xstrata PLC in hopes of advising it on its attempted takeover of Falconbridge. [Was Xstrata not formerly a Marc / Mark Rich company? I think I posted something in the last six months on Frost about this.]

[....] Marc Gonsalves, head of investor relations at Xstrata.

[....] TD as one of the last major Canadian investment banks free to play a role for Xstrata.

When Xstrata finally snagged Falconbridge, TD .... the other major nickel deal -- the fight over Inco Ltd.

TD's traders hatched a plan to finance Teck Cominco Ltd.'s last-ditch attempt at buying Inco with Canada's biggest ever stock sale, ... BMO Nesbitt Burns and Merrill Lynch ...

[....] The failure of the deal ... whether TD's vaunted market intelligence was as good as the firm believed.

Overcoming those concerns ... Mr. McKenna's work

[....] because of fortunate and unfortunate transactions. [....]

There is more in that article or in one of the others mentioned (perhaps in the article on CVRD) on other minerals. Also, in Street race: Now TD vies for the prize, note the charts (Equity underwriting , Mergers & acquisitions) and the deals:

Announced Toronto-Dominion advisory deals [chart]
2006 year-to-Nov. 24

Falconbridge Ltd - Xstrata PLC
Petrofund Energy Trust - Penn West Energy Trust
Aliant Inc. - Bell Canada-Wireline operation
CHUM Ltd. - Bell Globemedia Inc. [Is there anything in this that would account for the extraordinarily negative news out of BCE's Globe and Mail concerning the Harper Conservative government and income trusts? ]
Cambior Inc. - Iamgold Corp.

Toronto-Dominion bookrun equity deals

North American Oil Sands
Air Canada
Dundee REIT
Harvest Energy Trust
Sound Energy Trust




Excerpt: The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
www.photoaspects.com/chesil/wilde/index.html


It might be of interest to check this post: Dec. 11, 2006: Doing good ...

Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!