Cando sold to Alberta Crown corporation

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This article was published 20/07/2022 (1166 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local company Cando Rail & Terminals Ltd. has been purchased by the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, according to a release issued Wednesday morning by private equity management company TorQuest Partners.

Last year, Bloomberg reported that Cando was exploring a sale valued around $1 billion. The company became majority-owned by TorQuest in November 2018.

While the details of the deal were not disclosed, the transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

The president and chief executive officer of Cando, Brian Cornick, said in a phone interview he couldn’t discuss the terms of the accord due to a confidentiality agreement.

However, he was able to confirm that no jobs will be lost and none of the company’s operations will be affected by the purchase.

“I see no reason why that would change,” Cornick said about the company continuing to be headquartered in the Wheat City. “Brandon’s a great place. When you think about it, Cando is an industrial service. In this case, a rail speciality. But when I think about the culture of Brandon and the culture of the company, they go hand-in-hand. Do I see any changes in Brandon? No.”

Cornick expressed excitement for Cando’s new owners, saying they’ll be around for a long time.

“If you’re going to grow with someone, you want to grow with someone who has a growth mindset,” he said. “It’s great to see you have someone like AIMCo saying ‘We’re looking for a great infrastructure play in Canada and the U.S.’ They get our culture, they understand us in that sense. It’s nice to remain Canadian-owned.”

He added that AIMCo has the capital to sustain long-term growth and continue to invest in projects like new terminals in Dartmouth, N.S., Kamloops, B.C., Sarnia, Ont., and the Sturgeon Terminal in Alberta.

That last rail terminal, Cornick said, is the largest in Western Canada.

Cando was founded in Brandon by Gord Peters and Rick Hammond in 1978. The company owns nine terminals, more than 40 industrial railyards and one short-line railroad, and employs more than 900 people.

In Manitoba, Cando employs 210 people, 108 of whom are in Brandon. Last year, the company changed its name from Cando Rail Services to Cando Rail & Terminals.

AIMCo is a Crown corporation that manages public funds and pensions.

In an email, AIMCo director of stakeholder relations Dénes Németh declined to comment.

“Unfortunately, we are limited in what we are able to share to what is included in today’s announcement,” Németh said.

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