February 3, 2012 - 7:26pm BY JOHN DEMONT BUSINESS REPORTER | THE INSIDERS
Article from Herald Business
“Follow the money,” reporters on the trail of a story like to say. The advice is just as true for anyone trying to keep an eye on corporate takeover action.
A good place to start is the System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders, Canada’s electronic method for filing and publicly disseminating insider-trading reports.
The insider trading around CANMARC Real Estate Investment Trust in the week ending Feb. 2 is a case in point. Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust has made a $16.50-per-unit bid for all the units in CANMARC, previously known as Homburg Canada Real Estate Investment Trust.
The latest insider trading filings show Cominar has picked up 37.7 million CANMARC shares, raising its stake to 40.7 million units.
Among the sellers was Homburg Invest Inc. — controlled by high-flying investor Richard Homburg — which sold a million units, leaving it with 7.8 million.
Halifax-based Holloway Lodging Real Estate Investment Trust was another company with loads of insider-related activity of late. Last week The Chronicle Herald reported that Winnipeg-based Temple Real Estate Investment Trust had picked up 128 million units in the REIT.
Since then, activist investor George Armoyan — through his private investment company Geosam Capital Inc. — has acquired 284.9 million units for prices between four and 6.5 cents per unit. At the same time, Michael Rapps, a Geosam investment manager, bought 420,500 units at 5 cents to 5.5 cents each to hold 500,500.
Armoyan was busy in other ways in the past week:
- Geosam bought 3,500 common shares in Clarke Inc. — a company which he controls —at prices between $4.14 and $4.26, to hold 674,223 shares.
- Through Geosam, Armoyan also bought 6,400 shares in Halifax hotel chain Royal Host Inc. at $1.44 and another 1,400 at $1.45 to own 1.2 million.
At Brigus Gold Corp. (formerly Apollo Gold Corporation) last week several executives and directors were granted options for common shares exercisable at $1.18.
Among the biggest recipients: chairman Wade Dawe, who received 1.2 million, and vice-president Howard Bird, executive vice-president Jennifer Nicholson and CFO Dana Hatfield, all of whom received 450,000 each.
Other resource companies were active on the insider-trading front last week:
- At Calgary-based Forent Energy Ltd., which is looking for onshore oil and gas in the Stewiacke area, director John Forgeron was granted options to buy 200,000 common shares at 20 cents each. Meanwhile, Calgary investor Brett Wilson, a director, received options to buy 200,000 Forent common shares at 20 cents each to add to the 700,000 common shares he already owns.
- At Halifax-based NovaGold Resources Inc., Electrum Strategic Resources LLC, a New York precious metals investment company, exercised warrants to buy four million common shares at different prices. It also sold two million common shares at $.9.59.
- At Thundermin Resources Inc., which is looking for gold in Cape Breton, director John Arnold bought 307,692 common shares at 13 cents each to hold 447,567.
- At Bridgewater-based Silver Spruce Resources Inc., investment company Consolidated International Investment Holdings Inc. sold 349,000 common shares at nine cents each to hold 15.4 million common shares.
- At Halifax-based clean energy company Shear Wind Inc., director Manuel Capellan was granted options to buy 750,000 common shares at 15 cents each.
- At Canadian National Railway Co., Robert Pace, a director and president of Halifax-based The Pace Group, bought 2,969 common shares at $76.76 each to hold 92,404.
- At Lunenburg-headquartered food giant High Liner Foods Inc., director Robert Dexter bought and sold 16,200 common shares at $14 each.
(jdemont@herald.ca)
Article from Herald Business
