BAM! Brascan becomes Brookfield
Takes name, ticker of its 50%-owned property arm
Name change
Brascan’s corporate roots date back more than 100 years, and it’s had quite a few names. Remember when it was Hees International Bancorp Inc.? What about Brazilian- Canadian Traction Co.?
Anyway, get used to yet another new name. Brascan wants to become Brookfield Asset Management and change its stock ticker to BAM. Brascan fans will recognize “Brookfield” as the name of its 50%-owned commercial real estate business.
“ A focused approach to marketing our brand under one unified name should benefit all of our operations in the years ahead,” said Bruce Flatt, Brascan/ CEO.
Indeed it should — at least, until the next name change. Lumber truce?
Funny how Canada’s lumber business suddenly became less threatening to the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The U.S. government is reportedly mulling a reduction on the duties applied to Canadian softwood lumber imports. This would help in the reconstruction process.
Meanwhile, Canada has sent three navy ships down to the devastated Gulf Coast. The ships arrived this week. Some 1,000 Canadian sailors unloaded tonnes of relief supplies, among them chain saws, generators, diapers, blankets, cots — and yes, even lumber.
No word whether the Canadian ships were met by U. S. customs inspectors eager to collect duties on that wood. Putting our eggs in no basket Saving for a rainy day just ain’t what it used to be. In fact, Canadians don’t appear to be saving much at all.
The folks at CIBC World Markets this week told us the personal savings rate for Canadians aged 45 to 65 has plunged to 3.6%, down from 20% in the early 1980s. Across all age groups, the personal savings rate is now minus 0.5%, the lowest it’s been since the 1920s.
Some economists say we shouldn’t put too much stock in the personal savings rate. For example, the traditional income calculation omits several considerations, like capital gains or losses. Some Canadians may equate buying a house with putting money in the bank, but that line of thinking wouldn’t be reflected in the personal savings rate formula.
Still, however you crunch the numbers, CIBC figures that the rate of savings has declined.
“Canadians of all age groups are not saving enough actively by putting money aside for a rainy day,” said Benjamin Tal, senior economist at CIBC World Markets. “How much savings is enough is a matter for debate, but most Canadian households would likely benefit from building a little nest egg.” Consumer activism
We’ve all had our beefs over poor customer service. Sometimes we try to sort things out with a call to the Better Business Bureau. Of course, that doesn’t always work when the business in question may be on the wrong side of the law.
Japan’s Daily Yomiuri newspaper this week reported that a 32-year-old woman was arrested when she called police to complain that the hitman she hired had failed to fulfill a contract to kill her lover’s wife.
Maybe Consumer could run an article on how to find yourself a reputable mobster. Reversals Here’s something that briefly caught our interest, and not just because anyone familiar with Toronto winters wouldn’t mind visiting San Francisco in February.
The “Reverse Merger Conference” is taking place at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco on Feb. 1, 2006. At first blush, we thought this might be an interesting opportunity to listen to experts talk about the mechanics involved in undoing failed mergers. Just what would it take to undo the AOL- Time Warner deal? What about busting up the marriage of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq ?
Alas, our interest was shortlived. The conference actually looks at how you can take your private company public using a reverse takeover of a publicly listed shell company. If you’re still interested, there’s a Web site (http:// www.dealflowmedia.com / conferences/ rmrconf.htm).
Financial Post dhasselback@ nationalpost. com