REGINA (Staff) — The president of Alberta Wheat Pool says there is a way to offer public shares and still maintain farmer control of the three prairie pools.
Alex Graham said in a telephone interview Monday that the pool has been looking at the equity system for quite some time, struggling with the issue of farmer control. He isn’t sure the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s plan is the correct course of action.
“Let’s be honest with the farmers,” he said. “The potential is there to lose control. I think there’s a better way for the three pools to deal with the equity and to deal with the public offering.”
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Alternative proposal
Graham said his board has discussed an alternative proposal and he has written a letter to Sask Pool president Leroy Larsen and chief executive officer Don Loewen asking to discuss it. He had briefly discussed the issue with Manitoba Pool Elevators officials but declined to provide any details at this time.
“We just don’t think it’s necessary to take the pool itself public,” Graham said. “We think we could maintain the integrity and responsibility of delegates and still have the public offering at the same time.”
Graham said there are two ways farmers could lose control after a public share offering is held. The first is that government legislation, or stock exchange regulations, could be changed to say all shares traded on a stock exchange must be voting shares.
The second is if the shareholders themselves “really take a hold of this thing.
“I think ultimately the shareholders will decide,” he said.
Meanwhile, Manitoba Pool president Charlie Swanson said his board is also looking at a share offering, but the idea is still in a preliminary stage.
“We haven’t seen the details (of the Saskatchewan proposal) yet,” he said last week. “They are providing information to our financial people and we are having a planning session in 10 days when we’ll discuss it more in depth.”
Swanson said Manitoba Pool is “not in a panic situation” in terms of raising money but is faced with the same situation as the other two pools — having to pay out increasing amounts of equity to retiring farmers.
He said any financing options must leave farmer members in control.
