The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 38

C6 The Vancouver Sun, Friday, March 16, 1990 w' ill HJf Vr RODNEY Richmond firm chases aerospace link CANTEL SALE COMPLETED Vancouver's Glenayre Electronics has completed the sale by its subsidiary Glenayre Communications Inc. of 18 Cantel Service Centre outlets to Rogers Cantel Mobile the company announced this week. The purchase price paid at closing for the assets was about $35.4 million and is subject to post-closing adjustment, which could add another $2 million to the purchase price, As part of the transaction, Glenayre and Rogers Cantel Inc. entered a long-term agreement naming Glenayre exclusive Cantel Certified Associate, a designation Glenayre will use at its remaining retail outlets. NUTT work together.

Obviously, we have not got an insider's view yet. "We are doing our due diligence and hope within a few weeks we will be in a position to make an announcement." MDA and SED Systems employees have been notified of the offer, Pitts added. Fleet acquired SED in 1986 when it was running into financial problems, but Fleet itself posted a $5.42 million loss in fiscal 1989 in its Canadian and U.S. divisions on sales of $175 million. Fleet chairman George Dragone told shareholders at the annual meeting Wednesday that the St.

Catharine's, company was looking at selling all or part of its U.S. operations and has restructured management. Dragone was not available Thursday to comment on the agreement Fleet has signed with "an unnamed Canadian firm" for the sale of Fleet's 90-per-cent interest in SED and a company spokesman said a memo of understanding prohibits them from commenting. Fleet is an Ontario aerospace company and SED was spun off from the space-engineering division of the University of Saskatchewan. Mac Donald Dettwiler and SED Systems have worked together on projects in the past and both are members of the four-company industrial team taking part in the recently announced Earth Environment Space Initiative.

SED was incorporated in 1972 and developed into a fully fledged aerospace company with four sectors, including space systems, satellite ground systems, defence and government systems and custom manufacturing. It was a subcontractor to Spar Aerospace on the remote-control arm used by the U.S. space-shuttle program. By DAVID SMITH Sun Business Reporter Mac Donald Dettwiler and Associates, the Richmond-based remote-sensing-technology company, is attempting to buy majority control of SED Systems Inc. of Saskatoon from the troubled parent company Fleet Aerospace Corp.

The acquisition, should it be completed, would merge two leading western Canadian aerospace companies and add SED's stalf of 250 to one of B.C.'s oldest, largest and most respected high-technology players. DA president John Pitts expressed surprise Thursday that news had been leaked of MDA's interest in acquiring SED. Both are private companies. However, he said, "we are having a look at the company to see how the two companies might Pacific watch oM stocks tadliini GIANT BAY Resources Ltd. of Vancouver and SamaWorld Malaysia Sdn Bhd are jointly developing a $500 million resort complex at Genting Highlands just outside Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Earlier this month, Giant Bay began construction on a residential, commercial and hotel development around the Disney-type SamaWorld Theme Park. "Our project will change the world image of Genting Highlands from a gamblers' resort to a place for the family," said K.L. Chan, general manager of SamaWorld Management Sdn Bhd, the resort project manager. "It'll be good for the casino." Genting Highlands, along with the Cameron Highlands and Fraser Hill, are popular resort spots for people from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Giant Bay, through subsidiary Giant Bay (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, has sold all 283 bungalow lots that surround the theme park for $31 million US, according to Giant Bay president Richard Leibel.

Giant Bay will also launch the sale of 688 condominiums in the same development to buyers in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan that should raise $51 million in April. It acquired the land from Techlines which was in receivership. Techlines has been renamed Giant Bay (Malaysia). Giant Bay is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq over-the-counter market in New York. By DAVID BAINES Sun Business Reporter Stocks promoted by Murray Pezim are once again dominat-ing the Vancouver Stock Exchange as fresh assay results renew interest in the Eskay Creek gold play.

Prime Resources Group, controlled by Pezim and Toronto-based Corona closed Thursday at $578, up $1.27 from last week. Investors traded 757,828 shares for a total value of $4.6 million, highest on the VSE. The Prime group controls or manages more than 50 other VSE companies, including Calpine Resources which has a half interest in a gold property in the Eskay Creek area near the border. Calpine's share price closed ,.4, v1 1 -V Tb. Thursday at $6, up $1.80 from last week.

It was the exchange's sec-ond-highest value trader as 483,500 shares worth $3.3 million changed hands. Meanwhile, M- TC ELECTRONIC fc. vCT PEZIM lf i V-Jt RALPH BOWER THE WINNERS: Christopher Kerr (seated), Leanne Proctor, Ken Friesen, Kim Adams and Andrew Baigent Student winners find loopholes Secondary-school contestants play market strategy strictly by the rules Technologies Company Inc. has resumed the shipment of fax machines to the Yin Jiang Telephone Company of China. The Richmond-based firm has an exclusive contract to supply fax machines to the telephone company.

"This order signals the resumption of shipments to the Yin Jiang Telephone Co. under an exclusive trade agreement which had been temporarily suspended by political events in China last June," said MTC Electronic Technologies president Miko Leung. "The agreement calls MTC to import sub-assembled fax machines into China, which are then completed in MTC's Chinese factories and subsequently sold to Chinese companies by the Yin Jiang Telephone Co." Leung said MTC's other businesses in China weren't affected by the recent internal problems in China but the company's fax machine business was disrupted after only one shipment last year. "Sales of fax machines are controlled through the Chinese government-controlled telephone company," added Leung. "MTC's exclusive agreement for the importation of fax machines into China provides the company with a unique opportunity to be the major player in a multi-billion dollar industry.

MTC Electronic Technologies buys the fax machines in knock-down form in Japan. "The demand for fax machines far exceeds our present importing capability," said Leung. MTC Electronic Technologies is an 18-year-old manufacturer, distributor and importer of over 160 products from the Far East, including televisions from three company-owned factories in mainland China. Stikine Resources which owns the other half of the Calpine property, soared to $50'A at Thursday's close, up $11V from last week. The excitement is due to some excellent drill results announced by Calpine and Stikine last week.

Last Friday, the company reported a 42-metre drill intersection grading 0.45 ounces of gold per ton and 24.08 ounces of silver. "They're splendid results," said John Woods, editor of Stockwatch. Rumors have also been circulating that a third party may be contemplating a takeover. The names of several major mining companies and one high-profile Vancouver businessman have been mentioned, but nothing has been confirmed. Last summer's promotion, kick-started by Pezim and fuelled by sensational drill results, smashed VSE trading records.

It became bogged down, however, by the onset of winter and allegations that certain members of the Pezim group had failed to provide proper disclosure of material events, and had traded from control positions without providing advance notice, as required by law. Officials of the B.C. Securities Commission publicly announced they would investigate the allegations. That investigation is still in progress. "They ought to get on with it and complete their investigation," remarked Woods.

"If there are fines or some other punishment to be levied, then do it, but don't leave this cloud of suspicion hanging over the head of Murray Pezim and his organization. "It's a cloud which creates more doubt and suspicion, and that hurts the stock market more than anything else." Prime and Calpine also are proposing to merge on the basis of one share of the merged company plus half a warrant for each Calpine share. Shareholders will consider the proposal at a special meeting on April 2. with $4,000 less than when they started. "I think my students will feel short-changed." Argyle team supervisor Kim Adams said she saw the loophole right away, but didn't tell her students.

"They picked it up about Yk months later," she said. "I talked to the VSE and they acknowledged it was a weakness in the game, but they justified it by saying that the kids were still following the stocks and learning about the exchange." Indeed, the Argyle team displayed a good working knowledge of their portfolio: "I still had to get up at six o'clock every morning and give up most of my lunch hours," said Kerr, who used a network of brokers to identify fast-rising stocks. VSE public-relations director Joyce Courtney said many other teams used the same loophole, including South Peace Secondary in Dawson Creek, which came second with $894,000 and Bur-naby Central, which came third with $386,000. The Argyle team, aside from the prestige of beating 112 other teams, received a cash prize of $500, a free lunch and a tour of the exchange. By DAVID BAINES Sun Business Reporter FINDING LOOPHOLES.

That's what life's all about, say the winners of a stock-market strategy game organized by the Vancouver Stock Exchange. The four students of Argyle Secondary School in North Vancouver took advantage of a loophole in the rules to parlay their $50,000 grubstake into a whopping $1 million nest egg. "We studied the rules, found a loophole and used it to our advantage. It's part of life," said 15-year-old Christopher Kerr. The rules called for each team to start with a hypothetical $50,000 cash pool and, through shrewd and timely stock selection, pyramid it into the biggest possible gain.

In all, 113 teams from around the province entered the contest, which was co-sponsored by The Vancouver Sun. They carried such entrepreneurial handles as Wall Street Warriors, Fine Young Capitalists, Easy Money and The Pezims. "When we first started, we lost a lot of said 17-year-old ogy professor Lawrence Walker, an expert in moral reasoning and behavior, said: "Unfortunately, I don't think this type of behavior is terribly uncommon. "I think we put kids in situations where we encourage them to be competitive and to get away with what they can, particularly when the stakes are high. "In part, the object of the game was to beat the system and so you shouldn't be surprised if they go to extraordinary lengths to do that.

There are lots of situations where people abandon their normal moral standards. "I think what happens is that people don't interpret these situations as moral situations. They see them as a game or a business or something where morality isn't relevant." Gary Bennett, an economics teacher from North Delta Senior Secondary School, disappointed." His team stuck to the spirit of the game, but ended up Andrew Baigent of the Argyle team. Then they found The Loophole. For administrative ease, the VSE had agreed to accept buy or sell orders based on the previous day's closing price.

That gave teams an opportunity to delay their orders until they saw which way the stock was headed. If XYZ Resources, for example, closed at 50 cents on Tuesday and jumped to 75 cents Wednesday, the team could acquire the stock at 50 cents and sell it immediately to lock in their profit. It may not have mirrored real life, but it didn't take long for these budding J.R. Ewings to discover it was a sure-fire way to make money. "In business today, people study the law, find a loophole and exploit it.

You could ask any entrepreneur the same question and they would say it's part of life," said Kerr. But University of B.C. psychol Inflation rate slips slightly despite price increases JL A hard-hitting speech to the Japan Canada Trade Council this week, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada President Graeme McDonald condemned the lack of Canadian student interest in Japan. "There are fewer than 100 Canadian students in Japan and yet that nation is the biggest holder of our public debt," said McDonald. But he did praise the provincial education system, which has introduced several Asian languages into the curriculum in recent years.

McDonald also said the trade friction between the U.S. and Canada will provide a "fabulous opportunity" for Canada to increase its influence in trans-Pacific trade. larger drop in February's inflation rate as the cost of food returned to more normal levels following a Florida freeze that caused fresh fruit and vegetable prices to soar. But Statistics Canada said lingering effects from the cold snap kept pushing food prices up last month. "Prices of fresh vegetables continued to be high following frost in Florida in December as additional price increases were observed for tomatoes and cucumbers," the agency said.

Fresh vegetable prices jumped 13.4 per cent during February after climbing 34.5 per cent the month before. On a monthly basis, inflation rose 0.6 per But a 0.3 per cent drop in the price of cars during the month of February as auto makers offered special rebates helped dampen the over-all 0.5 per cent monthly increase in transportation costs. The recent round of interest rate increases and booming real estate markets in Western Canada helped drive up housing costs last month. Housing prices rose 0.2 per cent in February, largely because of a 0.5 per cent increase in the cost of owning your own home. "The latter reflected higher over-all mortgage interest costs and increased new house prices observed mainly in Alberta and British Columbia," the agency said.

1 1 cent between January and February, down slightly from the 0.8 per cent rise from December to January. Unless otherwise stated, inflation figures have not been adjusted to account for seasonal variations. Inflation over the last three months, which some some economists say gives a better picture of the latest trend in prices, also eased slightly to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.8 per cent from the 6.2 per cent rate reported for the three month period ending in January. Statistics Canada said all seven of the major components in its consumer price index rose last month, with clothing prices showing the sharpest increase as several sales and promotions ended in February. 1 By LARRY WELSH Canadian Press OTTAWA The annual inflation rate fell slightly last month to 5.4 per cent after jumping sharply in January to a six-year high of 5.5 per cent, Statistics Canada said today.

The government agency said price increases were widespread in February, led by higher costs for fresh fruit and vegetables, clothing, gasoline and more expensive holiday prices as Canadians rushed south to escape winter. The rate in Vancouver in February was 5.8 compared to 5.7 in January; in Victoria it was 5.6 in February, up from 5.3 in January. Some economists had expected a much.