Murray Edwards hops aboard WestJet
Oil patch investor airline's 4th-largest shareholder
BRENT JANG
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER
Calgary billionaire Murray Edwards has quietly bought enough WestJet Airlines Ltd. stock to become the carrier's fourth-largest individual shareholder.
Mr. Edwards has acquired more than two million WestJet shares, including purchases made after the stock drifted toward 52-week lows this past spring, according to industry sources familiar with his trades.
The oil baron served on the board of Calgary-based Canadian Airlines International Ltd. from May, 1998, until it was acquired in early 2000 by Montreal-based Air Canada.
His term as a CAI director coincided with its fight against Air Canada's takeover bid. CAI directors expressed disappointment in the fall of 1999, after Onex Corp. chief executive officer Gerald Schwartz withdrew his plan to acquire Air Canada and merge it with CAI. In the end, CAI's board reluctantly endorsed a takeover offer presented by Air Canada boss Robert Milton.
Mr. Edwards, 46, is emerging as a key shareholder in Calgary-based WestJet as the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan reduces its long-time stake. Teachers sold 30 per cent of its WestJet shares, held since the airline was founded in 1996, for a $63.4-million profit. The pension fund's divestment began in May.
The financier said yesterday that he doesn't comment on his personal investments.
His WestJet stake places him in good company, ranking behind three of the original investors.
WestJet chairman and CEO Clive Beddoe controls 6.2 million shares, the most of any individual shareholder. Two WestJet directors -- energy executive Ronald Greene with 5.4 million shares and financer Wilmot Matthews with 3.4 million shares -- round out the top three individual shareholders.
On the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, WestJet shares climbed 54 cents to a 52-week high of $13.79 -- a 38-per-cent jump over the past six weeks and its highest close since July, 2005. WestJet's volume on the TSX yesterday exceeded 2.4 million shares, or four times its average daily trading in the past year.
Softening oil prices and WestJet's record third-quarter profit have helped bolster the stock.
A WestJet spokeswoman said the airline didn't have any comment about changes to its shareholder base.
FMR Corp. of Boston, which manages Fidelity funds, remains the largest institutional investor with 19.1 million WestJet shares, or a 14.7-per-cent stake, followed by Teachers' 12.95 million shares.
WestJet shares remain well shy of their record high of $21.13 in January, 2004. But while many investors flee when a stock sags, Mr. Edwards sees opportunity. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. treaded dangerously close to financial ruin in late 1988, when Mr. Edwards scooped up stock for pennies a share. It's now one of the country's largest oil and gas producers.
Mr. Edwards isn't afraid to go against the political grain, either. He is a Liberal supporter in Tory-blue Alberta.
Although his portfolio is heavily weighted toward the petroleum sector, he has a 28-per-cent stake in aircraft component maker Magellan Aerospace Corp., where he serves as chairman.
The WestJet investment helps to balance Mr. Edwards' portfolio, providing a hedge for his energy shares should oil prices continue to falter, one industry insider said.
Another insider joked that Mr. Edwards, a co-owner of the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames, would be wise to keep WestJet's name off the roof of the team's home arena, the Saddledome, to spare the carrier from suffering a jinx associated with corporate sponsorship of sporting venues.
CAI formerly sponsored the arena, with its airline logo splashed across the top, but the current sponsor, Calgary energy firm Pengrowth Management Ltd., opted to keep its logo off the roof, even though it would be seen by passengers in planes.
Born and raised in Regina, Mr. Edwards earned his law degree at the University of Toronto. He moved to Calgary in 1983 and later became a partner in law firm Burnet Duckworth & Palmer. He made his investment mark after he left the law firm and eventually headed his private investment company, Edco Financial Holdings Ltd.
His net worth has been estimated at more than $1.6-billion, although it is difficult to value assets such as the Flames.
MURRAY'S MONEY
Calgary financier Murray Edwards' net worth has been estimated at more than $1.6-billion. He holds a wide range of investments, including stakes in assets that run the gamut from drilling rigs to ski resorts to oil paintings. Among his key holdings:
Energy
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
Ensign Energy Services Inc.
Penn West Energy Trust
Sports and leisure
Calgary Flames
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, including Lake Louise ski operation
Aviation
WestJet Airlines Ltd.
Magellan Aerospace Corp.
Finance
FirstEnergy Capital Corp.
Edco Financial Holdings Ltd.
Art
Collector of Canadian art and French Impressionists
Rig Pig Mentality??
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, lilfssister, North Shore, I WAS Birddog
Rig Pig Mentality??
Blastor:
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Dream Sequence ends
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These electrodes shouldn't hurt much, just as soon as we flick the switch your last round of shock therapy will be over.....No sir I don't believe your mother ever called here for you.
You have been very quiet latley........Does ums have a tummy ache? Don't you worry Mommy will call the doctor, and get all the nasty news about WestJet achieving RECORD numbers to go away.......Here you put on the "special glasses" so things look right for you.
*************************************************************
Dream Sequence ends
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These electrodes shouldn't hurt much, just as soon as we flick the switch your last round of shock therapy will be over.....No sir I don't believe your mother ever called here for you.
"Hey pile it, you wanna hold my bottle?"
