Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 22, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba B12 John 6977264 saturday free press business 958rent 7368 february 1997 sides working to reach hog agreement As truce ends by Bud Robertson staff reporter a two week truce in a bitter dispute Over hogs ended yester Day with both sides working feverishly to reach and for at the hogs continue to Roll into the were said Manitoba pork general manager Larry were hoping to get something done today but were not going to close the doors if we he As Long As were making Progress Well keep spokesmen for the processors did not return Calls the hog Industry was thrown into chaos earlier this month when the provinces four processing plants Burns Schneider and Jack Forgan meat of Winnipeg and Springhill farms of Neepawa refused to buy hogs priced under a new formula in which each would Deal individually with the marketing under the old pricing the four processors negotiated together to ensure they All paid the same base Price for hogs purchased from Mani Toba the number of hogs slaughtered at the four plants dwindled from the nor Mal per Day to Only and stacks of oreos Sisters and Melissa react with dismay As their stacks of oreos the girls were taking part in a contest this week in new York to kick off the popular cookies 85th pools ugg takeover bid lives up to colourful past last weeks takeover bid for United Grain growers by cooperatives in Alberta and Manitoba lives up to a colourful tradition of Gutsy Prairie Farmers bucking the theres been much debate in recent years Over How ownership of the Prairie Grain handling system would evolve under increasing pressure from huge transnational but the emerging scenario want even on the list of possibilities kicked around by Industry pundits at least not Western Canadas Grain handling system is dominated by four Compa Nies the three Prairie wheat pools and All of which developed As Farmer owned through these Farmers used collective marketing and Pur chasing to achieve Market they favoured govern ment regulation of the but the trend towards deregulation and the decision by ugg and Saskatchewan wheat Pool to turn to the Toronto Stock Exchange As a source of financing threatened to change All All four companies realized three decades ago that individually they were too Small to compete on a global Rural revival Laura Ranee they tried forming can Grain to handle exports on behalf of All of but ugg soon bowed out due to growing philosophical differences with the three in the the pools attempted to build on their Success with now the largest exporter of Canadian grains next to the Canadian wheat by studying amalgam but the Effort once again due to philosophical it was widely believed that the three pools would one Day merge in some especially since it was the Saskatchewan wheat pools stated corporate objective to pursue a Prairie that vision was marked by the swaps increasingly aggressive expansion into Manitoba and in the the foray by ugg and sep into Public share offerings not Only opened the door to outside it fundamentally shifted their corporate a cooperative involved with Grain handling must strike what is often an uneasy balance Between meeting Farmer member needs for service and maintaining corporate a publicly traded company must do its business in a manner that maximizes that something ugg has consistently been unable to deliver in recent making it Ripe for a corporate Indus try officials estimate Only 35 to 40 per cent of the firms shares remain in Farmers a takeover by the Alberta and Manitoba pools would ensure the heart of the Grain Industry remains in Canadian Farmers there would once again be full fledged co operatives serving All three it also counters any predatory intentions of the Saskatchewan wheat but the bid places that dwindling number of Farmer shareholders in ugg in an unusual Many of them disagree with Pool pol icy on key Grain Trade on the other whoever heard of a shareholder group gaining ownership of a company by Selling their shares in it Laura Ranee is associate editor of the Manitoba pork exports to Japan look Good by Martin Cash business reporter the Manitoba agr food Indus try is not keeping up with opportunities that exist to Export to according to experts in Winnipeg agricultural associations and Japan Ese Market experts hosted a halfday seminar for Manitoba companies who Are Export ready or about to Ron a commercial officer with the Canadian embassy in took part in the workshop while the Canadian share of agr food products imported into Japan has gone the actual Dollar value has increased particularly in the pork he the prospects look Good for the Davidson there is not enough pork being produced the fact the Opportunity is greater than the Export capacity that exists in Man Canada currently exports billion Worth of goods and services to including billion Worth of agr food that billion represents about per cent of the food products imported into Dave executive director of the Manitoba food processors Plant closures announced a couple of weeks ago were a makeup Call for the Industry and for the we have to make this push for value added products to real we need a coordinated Davidson said there Are opportunities for Canadian companies to break into the japanese Market because the japanese Are increasingly relying on imported food and agr food in Japan was 80 per cent self sufficient in food and Davidson in that number was Down to 42 per in the interests in devel Oping a hog Industry and further developing its agr food Industry has been heightened since the end of the Crow rate rail subsidies for trans porting Prairie since Manitoba Farmers have the furthest to go to get their Grain to West coast it makes a lot of sense for the provincial Economy to prompted Springhill farms to Issue Layoff notices to 206 during the the layoffs have been diverted and the plants have resumed Normal Sedgwick said the processors have Given up the idea of negotiating As one and Are now talking on an individual two weeks i would have said that two weeks was lots of time to get it he Don a spokesman for the United food and commercial workers said he has been told nothing about the Progress of negotiations among the four there keeping close lipped with he our workers dont know Keith added the companies Are required to give a weeks notice before laying anyone off so no one has issued such a ugg set to Poison pools9 bid takeover target issues threat to dump new shares on Market by Bill staff reporter United Grain growers has rejected a hostile takeover bid from Manitoba and Alberta wheat pools and claims the pools have triggered its Poison ugg is threatening to release Mil Lions of new shares onto the Market at a discount Price of per share on March As part of its Poison Pill shareholder rights every share except those held by Manitoba Pool elevators and Alberta wheat Pool would carry the right to buy More shares for the discount to prevent the discount Selloff of shares the pools must show ugg cogent factual evidence that they have not triggered eggs shareholder rights the company triggering the Poison Pill would both dilute the pools percentage of shares and the value of the shares they one Stock analyst predicted the Par ties Are headed to ugg will it Means it Means a drawn out said the Stock who did not wish to be ugg closed at per share yesterday on the Toronto Stock most of the pools shares were purchased when tse prices were about and Pool lawyers met yesterday and Are deciding How to said Anders Manitoba Pool corporate Secre tary and Legal is asking for said at Issue is the pools irrevocable lockup agreement for an additional per cent of ugg common in addition to the per cent of ugg shares they already ugg says that puts the pools Over the 15 per cent trigger of the Poison Pill shareholder rights there Are a lot of things ugg dont including the terms of the Brun Brun insisted there has been no Vio lation of the Poison Pill he also questioned the ugg Board of directors rejection of the pools offer As totally the View of ugg management on the appropriateness of the and the View of could be very different and time will if the Pill has been the pools holdings of per cent of shares would plunge to just per ugg the two pools unveiled a share hostile takeover bid thursday for All remaining limited common Vot ing shares in the country third largest Grain the pools cited the threat of a multinational takeover of Winnipeg based ugg As the reason for their ugg Stock soared to an Al time High of yesterday As rumours sur faced that Nebraska based Colagra was in merger talks with ugg for a ugg Stock closed at on the Toronto Stock Exchange with shares changing ugg president Ted Allen denied there is any foreign and said the pools were using that As an excuse to exercise a hostile rather than telling us and the mar Ket that they were considering Mak ing an the pools have repeatedly stated that they were acquiring ugg shares in order to Block a bid for the company from a for eign Allen said in a state we Are not aware of any pending foreign or it is Clear the pools intended to make a general offer All Alberta wheat pools chief financial officer would not Rule out raising its bid for ugg in the event of a rival takeover in terms of a if Colagra came along wed have to look at it in the Light of said Geoff South officials of Saskatchewan wheat which began trading publicly last said it they Are just interested Southwood said a move by sask Pool to take Over ugg would be considered a competitive threat by the sister the amount of Money required to consummate a takeover of ugg led the Dominion Bond rating service on thursday to place and Asp on a credit watch with negative implications while the Canadian Bond rating service yesterday put ugg on a credit watch of its cars said eggs 1997 earnings and Cash flow forecast was positive thanks to the Large Prairie Harvest last Trade shows Canada racked up a record billion Trade surplus last year despite a yearned dip in that up from the 1995 Trade sur plus of the country sold billion Worth of goods to for while buying billion in 5 to registered retirement sayings plans Nln they paid into registered pension about billion in contributions to rasps represented 53 per cent of retirement savings made through the two shipments by manufacturers up Over shipments by manufacturers fell in december but were still per cent higher than Levels of a year the value of shipments in december was ;