National Post from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 12

12 NEWS April 12, 1997 The Financial Post Gas ruling seen as competition boost Acklands plans to invest in Goldlist Properties IPO BY DAN WESTELL The Financial Post who represents independent marketers. The situation is ripe for abuse." The Manitoba Public Utilities Board ruled last year that distributor Centra Gas Manitoba Inc. and unregulated affiliate Centra Energy Services could not share facilities, executives and staff, and only 25 of the directors could sit on both boards. The board said it would prefer the two companies not use the Centra name, but did not order that. It did, however, order Centra not to permit affiliates to advertise the relationship, and ruled that affiliates must disclose that they are not regulated.

Centra sought leave to appeal the board's ruling, but was denied that this week, leaving the order in place. up unregulated operations to take advantage of pending deregulation in the retail energy services business. This week, Consumers' Gas Energy Inc. set up an unregulated broker, ConsumersGrst, that will compete with CGE's regulated utility Consumers' Gas Co. other local distribution monopolies, and the independent marketers who already serve more than 25 of Ontario's two million residents.

The independents, many of them very small companies, fear the monopolies' affiliates will have a market advantage if the companies share facilities, information, support services, personnel or even a name. "I have some grave concerns," said Toronto lawyer Peter Budd, Proponents of competition in the retail natural gas market have been heartened by a Manitoba court decision. The Manitoba Appeal Court ruling released this week confirms a provincial regulator's decision that limited the connections between regulated gas delivery utilities and their unregulated affiliates. "The decision was strongly pro-competitive," said Tom Adams of Energy Probe, a Toronto-based lobby group. The issue has come to the fore as most of the big, monopoly distributors companies like Centra Gas which has huge subsidiaries in Ontario and Manitoba are setting BY IAN JACK Auto Industry Reporter The Financial Post Acklands the former auto-parts distributor, will invest in real estate through the initial public offering of a Toronto property developer, chairman Rai Sahi said on Friday, revealing part of the company's new strategy.

Toronto-based Acklands intends to buy 40 of the IPO of Goldlist Properties Inc. of Toronto at an expected cost of $35 million to $40 million, Sahi said Friday in an interview. The offering is expected to close April 30. Another 40 of Goldlist will be retained by founder George Goldlist, while the other 20 will be available to institutional and private investors. Goldlist controls about 5,000 apartment units in Toronto-area residential buildings.

Acklands, until six months ago, operated two distribution businesses, serving the auto aftermarket and the industrial supplies market. But Sahi sold the industrial supplies business in September 1996, to W.W. Grainger Inc. of Chicago for million. Then, last month, the auto-parts distribution business was spun off into a separate company to be managed and 50-owned by General Parts Inc.

of Raleigh, N.C. That deal netted Acklands about $75 million in cash. Acklands had a total of $300 million in cash sitting on its books before the Goldlist deal and intends to spend half on real estate. "It's becoming a good time to invest in real estate," Sahi said. "That's where we feel we can deliver shareholder value." A decision on where to invest the rest of the money will come before the company's May 6 annual meeting, he said.

Acklands also owns Reynolds Fasteners which makes and distributes nuts and bolts in the U.S. Acklands shares (ACKtse) closed Friday at $16.05, down 20C. Newbridge affiliates to get $3M from Ottawa Company News will announce details of the funding Monday morning. The amount of money was not made public, but sources said the three investments will total just over $3 million. Under the TCP fund, the government buys into research projects intended to develop commercial products.

If the company successfully develops and sells a commercial product as a result of the research, the government gets its money back in royalty payments. If no products are developed, the company is not obliged to repay the money. The investments in the Newbridge affiliates will be similar to Ot tawa's recent $87-million investment in Bombardier project to develop a new regional jet. Ottawa will begin to get royalty payments after Bombardier sells 200 of the new planes. The federal money will be fully repaid after 400 jets are sold, and Ottawa makes a profit after that However, if the project bombs and fewer than 200 planes are sold, Ottawa gets none of its $87 million back.

Under the TCP fund, the company must do the research in stages, and prove each stage is eligible. It receives the money from the government as each step is completed. BY JILL VARDY Technology Reporter The Financial Post Ottawa Three affiliates of Newbridge Networks Corp. will get more than $3 million worth of repayable investment from the federal government on Monday, The Financial Post has learned. The money, paid from the Technology Partnerships Canada fund, will go to CrossKeys Systems TimeStep and Tundra Semiconductor Corp.

All three private companies are partly owned by Newbridge and by Newbridge chairman and chief executive Terence Matthews. Industry Minister John Manley Intensity Resources accepts sweetened offer CALGARY Renata Resources Inc. has sweetened its hostile bid for Intensity Resources Ltd. by 5C a share. The new $120-million offer was accepted by Intensity's board and recommended to shareholders.

The sharecash deal provides $2.30 a share or roughly 1.917 Renata shares for each Intensity share, up to a maximum cash component of $115 million. Intensity also carries about $30 million debt. The increased offer surprised analysts. "Nobody is getting over $2 for this thing. I can't see it," said one.

The market seemed to agree. While Intensity (Itytse) moved up 5C to close at $2.20, Renata (RTATSE) dropped 6C to finish on Friday at $1.19. Both firms are Calgary-based oil and gas concerns. Renata is headed by John Gunn, who was the chief executive of Ballistic Energy Corp. when it was bought by Stam-peder Exploration Ltd.

for $127 Where is your money being blown today? L. M4 i million last year. Sydney SharpeFP Westin to spend $100M to develop ski resort VANCOUVER Westin Hotels Resorts will spend $100 million to develop a ski resort property at the base of Whistler Mountain above the town of Whistler, B.C. The property, called Westin Resort, will be a resort. Westin will provide sales, marketing and reservations support to the hotel.

Dow Jones Grand Met selling two units to Sara Lee LONDON Grand Metropolitan PLC said Friday it's close to selling two of its European dessert businesses to Sara Lee Corp. of Chicago. The British food and liquor company said in September it would sell part of its European food business to concentrate on brands that are first or second in international market share. Terms weren't disclosed. Bloomberg Cathedral Gold to cut production in Nevada The ailing price of gold has pushed Cathedral Gold Corp.

of Vancouver to reduce 1997 production of the precious metal at its Nevada mine, the company reported yesterday. The company originally forecast mining 8,500 ounces from the Sterling mine near the town of Beatty but has cut the production target to 6,500 ounces. Last year, gold production on the property reached 14,674 ounces, the highest level since operations began in 1980. Despite extensive study, Placer Dome Inc. has yet to exercise its option to earn a 65 stake in the Sterling mine.

The partnership is contingent on Placer Dome's committing to develop an ore body in excess of 750,000 ounces. Keith DamsellFP Slater Steel workers agree to end strike Workers at a Slater Steel Inc. mini-mill in Hamilton, have ratified a tentative contract, ending a week-long strike. The 400 members of the United Steelworkers of America voted Friday to accept the four-year deal, which includes pension improvements. tan JackFP jordicJ7ack 1L.

Yes. We know the winds are changing in the mutual fund industry. That doesn't mean your money should be blown in the direction taken by many Introducing the Infinity family of funds. We offer a clear direction for permanent wealth creation. At Infinity Funds Management, our investment See our ad on page 35 philosophy is to buy and hold great businesses that are domiciled in strong long-term growth industries.

This provides you with the best opportunity for long-term growth of your money with minimum threat of tax. of today's fund managers. Investment practices such as "asset "market "stock picking" and "sector rotating" may sound impressive at first. The truth is, no one person is ever able to predict where markets or interest rates are headed. In MUtUAL FUNDI Wealth creation through permanent business ownership.

3 1 355" You can't argue with the world's wealthiest investors. They are all owners OPEN FOR BUSINESS! FRANKLIN COUNTY, NY OFFERS: of great businesses. Not one of them made their fortune from trying to guess financial markets. And neither should you. addition, excessive trading may trigger additional taxes for you to pay.

So why trust your financial future to costly intuition and guesswork? Hn Va r- niunc 1 Hour from Montreal! 1 1 ussssr- UUH.UII1UO "TRAINING CALL TODAY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY COURT HOUSE ALONE, NY 12953 Important Intormanon about Infinity Mutual Rinds is contained in tht- simplified prospectus. btain a copv from your independent investment fund dealer and read II carrlullv before investing Pt jwrformancc mav be no indication of future returns. I'nit values and investment returns will fluctuate.