Acquisitions contribute to growth for B.C.’s largest private companies

Corporations on Business in Vancouver’s list Top 100 private companies in B.C. posted $60.6 billion in revenue last year, a 2.3% increase over 2010.

That’s nearing the $61.2 billion in record revenue posted just prior to the abrupt start of the global financial crisis.

A careful, steady approach to growth seems to have been the strategy for many. Nearly half of the companies on the list posted revenue increases of at least 10%. But for some companies that have weathered the continued global economic turmoil, more aggressive growth has been in the cards.

An Ernst & Young (E&Y) business confidence survey released earlier this year found that private companies are keen to expand through acquisition. (See “B.C. business fuelling growth through acquisition” – issue 1180; June 5-11.) That’s clearly been happening in B.C. with several private companies making acquisitions, from Jim Pattison Lease’s purchase of Williamson’s leasing portfolio in mid-May to Flight Centre’s acquisition of GoVoluntouring in February.

The survey also found that corporate executives are also looking to divest non-core assets to free up capital to expand their primary business or continue to shore up the company’s balance sheet. In Canada, 31% of Canadian CEOs said they were looking to divest, up from 23% six months ago.

While the U.S. remains a key M&A market to expand into, the E&Y survey found Asian markets have become top investment destinations, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and India.

But Elise Rees, leader of E&Y’s transactions advisory practice, noted that entering unfamiliar markets requires a lot of care.

Countries like China and India are “more than doable regimes to do business in. But you have to carefully do your due diligence and understand that the normalities we have here are not the same there. It’s a different culture and environment and you have to be willing to invest the time in understanding that.” •