The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Alimentation Couche-Tard this week unveiled its $3.8-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Texas-based convenience store rival CST Brands a day after the 2016 Olympics wrapped up. The Globe's Konrad Yakabuski writes that the takeover was seen as a gold-medal day for Quebec Inc., which had been on the losing side of late.
On the touchy topic of the fate of Quebec's francophone business class, Couche-Tard is the counterargument of choice among those who see a half-full glass. The company is slowly taking over the world of convenience stores, making co-founder and executive chairman Alain Bouchard a local hero.
No wonder Quebec's politicians and media got their backs up when Toronto-based institutional investors refused to support Mr.
Bouchard's plan to scrap the existing sunset clause on the company's multiple-voting shares, allowing him and his three co-founders to keep control well beyond 2021 and pass ownership on to their children.
"Where's the gratitude?" they asked. Mr. Yakabuski points out, however, that with a market cap now approaching $40-billion, it would be beyond Quebec's ability to take a large enough stake in the company to block a takeover.
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