Monthly Archive: January 2022

A lost opportunity

The market misses Frank Hasenfratz, founder of Linamar Corp., since his demise on Saturday, January 8. Linamar share price at the close of day Friday, January 7, was $78.45. Share price at the close yesterday, January 24, was $67.67, down 14 percent in two weeks. The broader market, the S&P/TSX composite index, was down about 2 percent during the same period. There are many causes for ups and downs in share prices, but I think it’s safe to say that Frank’s death is a major reason for the current drop. This too shall pass. Frank, who founded Linamar in 1966,...

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Frank Hasenfratz 1935-2022

The first thing you should understand about the late Frank Hasenfratz was his sense of humour. When you called him, he would say, “Hello,” and then immediately add, “I’m just sitting here counting my money.” The second thing was his no-nonsense approach to life. His second daughter Linda graduated from the University of Western Ontario then worked briefly as a pharmaceutical rep before deciding in 1990 to join the family business, Linamar Corp. Her father welcomed her but then said, “There’s only one job you start at the top and that’s when you’re digging a hole. And guess where you...

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Bankers ours

A lot of attention and praise has recently been heaped upon hospital workers, and deservedly so. But there’s another group that has also been on the front lines: bank branch employees. While approximately two-thirds of all bank employees have been able to work safely from home during the pandemic, the other one-third have been going into work as always, serving personal and business customers mask-to-mask. That means thousands of workers in approximately 6,000 bank branches across Canada.  The branch used to be the source of bank leaders. In the modern era, CEOs such as Matt Barrett of Bank of Montreal,...

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