Control of Westfield sold to Bronfman group outpost

That control of Westfield had been sold to a southern outpost of the Bronfman empire wasn’t immediately evident when the company’s major shareholder, Whim Creek Consolidated of Australia, announced that it had agreed to sell its stake in Westfield to American Resource Corp. of Bermuda.

In a brief announcement, Whim Creek said it was selling its shareholding in Reveltek Ltd., which holds certain offshore investments, including 46% of Westfield to American Resource for $25.8 million(A).

But a closer inspection of American Resource’s connections reveals that control of Westfield now lies with a Hees affiliate.

According to American Resource’s 1987 annual report, the company is a 96%-owned subsidiary of Canadian Express Ltd. which in turn is wholly-owned by Christopher Ondaatje’s International Pagurian Corp.

Last December, the assets of a Pagurian affiliate were merged into Hees in a paper swap which also made Ondaatje a Hees vice-chairman. As a result, the responsibility for managing Pagurian Corp. and its assets is shared by Ondaatje and a team of executives responsible for running Hees, Canada’ s most profitable merchant bank.

While a Hees spokesman declined to speculate on what is in store for Westfield, American Resource President Denash Varma was clearly pleased with the deal.

“It seemed to us that we could get the Reveltek assets at a discount,” said Varma. “The company has good assets and a good position.”

The Westfield issue was trading recently on The Toronto Stock Exchange at $1.90 in a 52-week range of $2.65 and $1.50.

In addition to a 35% stake in a Chilean gold/silver mine, Westfield holds a 7% stake in Northgate which is connected to Hees through another Bronfman company called Great Lakes Group.

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