Letters to the Editor Westfield shareholders seek OSC review

Surely the Ontario Securities Commission, in its enjoined role of legal referee, must loudly cry “foul” in this dubious and unilateral exercise, if the confidence of minority shareholders of any “Bronfman affiliate” company, or indeed any public company, is to be maintained.

Westfield’s president of two whole weeks, accountant Danesh Varma rationalized the sale of these much-vaunted assets thus: “The transaction reflects Westfield’s desire to simplify its operations.”

Contrastingly, in a simultaneous release, Northgate, President and Chief Executive Officer John Kearney generously expanded on this simplification, making it even more simple: “The opportunity to become involved in the Choquelimpie mine (the gold-silver Chile producer in which Westfield held a 35% interest) was particularly attractive, as the economics of this project appear better than other gold investment opportunities available in North America at this time,” and the consequent illogic that what was good for Northgate would not be equally good for Westfield.

As a corollary, either Mr Varma has poorly and ineptly represented the Westfield shareholder in selling their gold-silver assets so inopportunely into a rising gold market, or Northgate management has an impeccable sense of timing. When these assets were acquired by American Bermuda Corp. in February, 1989, Mr Varma then expressed his pleasure (N.M., Feb 27/89) at acquiring these assets “at a discount” — a pleasure which now seems to be similarly enjoyed and expressed by Mr Kearney in his laudatory evaluation of these mining assets.

We, a committee of 200 dissident Northgate and Westfield shareholders, are unhappy with, and deplore this transaction, not only as Westfield shareholders, but, equally, as Northgate shareholders. It is an ill-considered and corporately myopic exercise that can only conspire negatively to the image of both companies, and Bronfman affiliate companies as well. J. M. Peterson On behalf of the committee of dissident Northgate and Westfield Shareholders Toronto, Ont.

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