Publications 

24 May 2024

At Gildan, a board’s defeat offers lessons in shareholder management

Glenn Chamandy, co-founder of Gildan Activewear Inc. GIL-T, left his job as chief executive officer last year in a cloud of mystery after relations with his board soured. Now he returns triumphant – and under more pressure than ever before to deliver returns for the investors who won his job back. The raucous five-month battle that engulfed […]

23 May 2024

Best Caisse Scenario

A debate is raging over whether Canada’s pension plans invest enough of their vast assets at home. And Charles Emond – the man charged with producing big returns while contributing to Quebec’s economy – is at the centre of it all. Charles Emond leans into the microphone, ready to act out a perennial ritual for […]

21 May 2024

Changes to capital gains taxation: insidious consequences for the intergenerational transfer of Canadian controlled companies?

Two weeks after the budget was tabled, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland now intends to ask Parliament to approve proposed changes to capital gains taxation in a stand-alone bill. This measure has met with an abundance of reactions. The people affected are an assorted group with very high incomes, of course, but these incomes often reflect, […]

7 April 2024

Browning West seeks court order to prevent Gildan sale before vote on new directors

U.S. investment firm Browning West is seeking a court order preventing the board of Gildan Activewear Inc. from signing any binding deal to sell the clothing maker until shareholders vote on new directors. The request was made last week as an amendment to an existing suit in the Quebec Superior Court’s commercial division, filed by […]

14 March 2024

Gildan says allegations by key shareholder Browning West violated U.S. securities law

Gildan Activewear is accusing one of its largest shareholders of violating American securities law and has asked the regulator to investigate allegations that the investor has been spreading falsehoods about the Montreal-based clothing maker’s new chief executive, Vince Tyra. In a letter sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday, Gildan alleged that U.S. […]

29 January 2024

Gildan to hold shareholder meetings in late spring for board of directors vote

Canadian clothing maker Gildan Activewear Inc., GIL-T locked in a fight with dissident investors over its decision to sack its chief executive officer in December, is convening its shareholders in late spring to vote on whether they want a new board. The company says the timeline for the meeting on May 28 will give investors “a reasonable […]

17 January 2024

Former CEO gives Gildan Activewear board a dressing-down

Former Gildan Activewear Inc. chief executive Glenn Chamandy fired back at the company’s latest accusations concerning his leadership, saying the board is seeking to unfairly harm his reputation and cast aspersions on his performance. The company on Tuesday took aim at Mr. Chamandy’s leadership, alleging he had become disengaged from his job, and that he had an […]

17 October 2023

Family Controlled Companies: Drivers of Canadian Economy

To listen to the full panel with Louis Audet (board member of IGOPP), about the most recent report of IGOPP on family businesses, please click here or on the image below (the panel’s duration is 43 minutes):

17 October 2023

Family Controlled Companies: Key Drivers of Canadian Economic Sustainability – Panel

To listen to the full panel with Louis Audet (board member of IGOPP), about the most recent report of IGOPP on family businesses, please click here or on the image below (the panel’s duration is 43 minutes):

13 October 2023

The performance of Canadian controlled companies listed on the S&P/TSX

Family-run businesses are the cornerstone of market economies. These companies are often imbued with a strong culture rooted in the values of their founder, a culture that develops and strengthens over time, sometimes even beyond the first generations who succeed one another at the helm of the business. They tend to make decisions with a […]

28 August 2023

No clear consensus on diversity disclosures

Securities regulators may agree on the need to improve issuers’ diversity disclosure, but they can’t agree on how to achieve it. A public consultation on the issue so far isn’t building consensus. In April, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) proposed changes to corporate governance requirements, publishing two approaches for expanding diversity disclosures beyond gender. The Ontario […]

1 July 2023

Memorandum of IGOPP on Regulations 58-101 and 58-201

“Any organization governed by a board of directors must strive to constitute a board that is both legitimate and credible.”[1] A board’s credibility is indispensable to its effectiveness and “[its] credibility is measured not only by its in-depth knowledge of the company’s industry and its markets, of its business model, and its value-creation drivers, but […]

16 May 2023

Is the Sun Setting on Dual Class Share Structures?

Teck’s Dual Class Amendment Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”) recently announced that it will be collapsing its dual class share structure (“DCSS”) by introducing a six-year sunset for the multiple voting rights attached to its Class A common shares (the “Dual Class Amendment”). An overwhelming majority of Teck’s shareholders voted in favour of the Dual Class […]

1 May 2023

South African prison scandal raises concerns over Caisse’s G4S connections

[…] Even before this latest scandal, questions were being raised about why a Canadian corporate pillar like the Caisse would jump into the security industry and, later, associate itself with a company like G4S, which has a checkered recent history. Critics say the pension giant, which administers the retirement funds for thousands of public-sector employees, has no business […]

29 December 2022

Companies should disclose board members’ spoken languages to investors, Quebec group Médac says

A leading investors’ rights group in Quebec is pressing publicly traded Canadian companies to reveal what languages their board members speak, saying the disclosure is needed to ensure rising expectations for corporate diversity are being met. The call comes from Montreal-based Mouvement d’éducation et de défense des actionnaires, known as Médac. The group says the […]

4 August 2022

How obeying an activist investor can destroy value

[…] If you ever needed a reminder about how M&A can be value destructive, look no further than Just Eat Takeaway’s $7.3bn acquisition of US rival Grubhub. The Netherlands-based company on Wednesday said it had to write down by €3bn the value of Grubhub, effectively admitting its consolidation strategy has failed. There are two lessons […]