Agricore United

[rockpile]

This sure has become a quiet topic, but one that reverberates throughout rural Western Canada, and its' future. Now that the sale of shares called the 'assisted sales program' is complete and our farmer controlled friends have sold, in our favor, at the very lowest trading price for shares in 2001, what has happened to those still holding shares? Can they now trade, or will they only be released to sell when prices hit a new low? This whole thing smells as fishy as the Enron situation in the U.S. There is virtually no public information coming forward at all, and as important as this is to so many Western farmers, why are they quietly sitting on their hands? Doesn't anybody get it that Archer Daniels Midland is getting the whole package for next to nothing while old UGG and Agricore 'high-ups' are getting gold plated packages to disappear? Did I mention, that right after retiring as PM, Brian Mulroney was appointed to the Board of Directors of ADM, and almost overnight, they bought up 85% of Canada's flour milling capacity? And you're wondering who is holding back Canadian farmers from processing their own Durum here? Who the heck is on your side?
Rockpile

[TOM4CWB]

rockpile,

I think that this situation was especially bad for older folk who had retired...

I will be really surprised if Agricore United can come close to holding market share, no question many people feel jilted by what happened!

I believe this is a real setback for the whole cooperative movement...

But I was told that nobody ever promised life would be fair, right?

[wedino]

Rockpile, I'm curious, why do you blame ADM for the fact that a durum processing mill hasn't been built by western Canadian farmers?

[TOM4CWB]

rockpile,

I see that UGG shares were at just over $9.00 today.

We looked them up on TSE.com and it is very interesting on the UGG site the 52 week low is quoted as $8.00, yet the 1 yr. chart table shows the stock never traded under $8.50!

I guess what this means is that the TSE trades themselves were not under $8.50, which must in turn mean that the brokerage selling the agricore converted shares pocketed fifty cents per share on every share redeemed by Agricore holders of the converted UGG shares that were redeemed in November!

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, what were these brokers paid?

500,000 for the prospectus?

a couple of million after the deal closed?

50 cents per share on how many million shares?

Could it be that a few people just extracted, reaped millions from prairie farmers for a few days work and almost no risk?

I heard today that SWP had to make Agricores Westco fertiliser payment last fall because Agricore didn't have the cash flow to make it?

Was Agricore in that bad shape?

[rockpile]

Agricore, ADM, and Durum farmers
Wedino, I'm not blaming ADM, I'm asking, are you serious in wanting to take on a risky venture against odds that are totally not in your favor? Tom4, the planets must be aligning because we are finally agreeing on something. You raise a valid point, where did that eight dollar buyout come from? I never saw share trade in that range, except for maybe that one day, Dec. 21st or whatever it was. You are right that current share values are suspect, because net earnings will not sustain those levels. Performance simular to Sask Pool will net the same investor confidence. How bad was Agricore's bottom line? Close to 800 million in debt against twice that much gross revenue. Last year, net earnings were negative. Not hard to figure out an outcome here, is it? But, UGG was also a fiscal wreck. The only option left was to find a 'sugar daddy' - ADM. They know have 25% ownership, which will soon be advanced to 45%, and operation control. Doesn't get any better, if you are ADM. It just chokes me how much the scoundrels, like Ted Allen and Gord Cummings walk away with despite the screw-up they created. Lesson learned - crime does pay.
Rockpile

[TOM4CWB]

Rockpile,

If people are honest, truthful and fair, then they deserve a chance and I will work to help and make our community stronger by working with these people!

Getting rich by abusing someone else, who objects or doesn't even know, is foolish dishonest, and wrong!

I will work to my last breath to uncover and expose CWB dishonest activity and practices, there is nothing worse than saying one thing and doing another!

Like M Jay Farm Enterprises finding UGG was getting sweet deals from the CWB buy-back as a CWB Agent making sales to the US!

What was the CWB's defense?

"... the express purpose of the Act [CWB Act] as set forth in s.5 is not the maximization of producers benefits, but rather the orderly marketing of grain grown in Canada in interprovincial and export trade."

" The Act itself suggests that the Board is not to be held accountable to producers, but rather to the Minister..."

Is it any wonder folks in North Dakota are angry with the CWB and Canadian grain companies?

Are these folks not just as much a neighbour that I am to love and be concerned about as some one 10, or 100 miles down the road in Alberta, or even you Rockpile?

When the CWB was undercutting US values, like they were in M Jay, were they not undercutting Canadian farmers they claim they are maximising returns for?

What is right, and what is the truth?