The CEO for southeastern Saskatchewan’s Weyburn Inland Terminal has confirmed he’ll leave his post once a shareholder vote is held on a proposed takeover bid for the grain handling company.
Rob Davies, in a WIT release Monday, said he will resign five business days after a special shareholders’ meeting and vote are held. That meeting is now expected “on or about” Feb. 28.
The Weyburn company’s current board of directors has put its support behind the all-cash, $94.6 million ($17.25 per share) offer from Winnipeg grain firm Parrish and Heimbecker (P+H).
“I am certain that the path forward with P+H that the directors have unanimously recommended shareholders accept is absolutely the right decision, and that it will provide the best opportunity for both our staff and customers in the future,” Davies said in Monday’s release.
Davies’ employment arrangement with WIT was amended last month so as to ensure “continuity and support” during the company’s review of a potential sale, the company said Dec. 13.
The arrangement allowed him to quit anytime after Jan. 15 this year, and to get a “retention payment” worth 15 months’ salary, plus a pro-rated bonus.
“Rob’s insight and involvement in various agriculture industry associations and boards of directors, as well as (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) task forces and working groups, have provided the WIT board with an inside view of the grain handling industry that has helped us to be successful” WIT president Claude Carles said in the same release.
An information circular from WIT with “all the relevant information regarding the proposed plan of arrangement” with privately-held P+H is expected to be mailed to WIT shareholders on about Feb. 6, the company said.
“Rather than selling”
Support for the P+H bid isn’t expected to be unanimous, as a shareholders’ group has come forward contending “the best owners of WIT are local farmers and public.”
Two members of the WIT board quit on Dec. 10, shortly before the board announced plans for a “strategic review” to consider a sale of the company.
The shareholders’ group — which previously had called for WIT’s board to call a shareholders’ meeting, before P+H was announced last week as the favoured bidder — now plans to hold its own shareholder meeting, Feb. 4 at Weyburn’s McKenna Hall.
All shareholders and stakeholders, including current directors, are invited to meet “so we can all discuss the future of WIT,” the group said on its website.
“We believe that shareholders have the right to shareholder liquidity and the best value for your shares possible,” the group said on its site. “This is achievable by re-engaging farmers and members of our community rather than selling to another grain company, further consolidating the industry.” — AGCanada.com Network
Related stories:
Parrish and Heimbecker seeking Weyburn Inland Terminal, Jan. 24, 2014
Farmer-owned Sask. terminal’s potential sale questioned, Jan. 9, 2014
Two Weyburn Terminal directors quit as sale eyed, Dec. 17, 2013
