Tlicho Investment Corporation cleans house, axing 17 of its companies
Corporation says subsidiaries cut were either 'inactive, redundant' or not meeting mandate
The Tlicho Investment Corporation has cleaned house, axing 17 of its 37 subsidiary companies.
The eyebrow-raising move was announced in a recent and first-ever quarterly report to Tlicho beneficiaries. The corporation is wholly owned by the Tlicho Government.
Lindberg Paul, the corporation's vice president of strategic business development, wrote in the report that "we began a review process of the existing TIC businesses with a goal of streamlining the organization" since he joined the corporation in January 2015.
"To date we have eliminated 17 companies that were either inactive, redundant or not contributing to the TIC mandate," he wrote. "These eliminations had no negative financial impact on the corporation."
Seven other companies may also be folded, he added.
After that, "the final phase will be to consolidate certain companies within the group which provide the same services thereby eliminating duplication of resources."
Major companies still operating
According to its last publicly available annual report, the corporation owned all or parts of 37 different companies as of July 2015. Many were joint ventures.
Paul did not specify which companies have been eliminated.
But the report goes on to describe the continued activities of several wholly or majority-owned subsidiaries.
They include:
- Ventures West Transport, which recently negotiated a three-year contract to deliver fuel for Dominion Diamond Corporation, the owner of the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines
- Tlicho Construction, which is currently building a sportsplex in Behchoko and an eight-room motel and a seniors' home in remote Whati
- Tlicho Road Constructors, which will build an approximately 140-kilometre stretch of the Tibbitt to Contwoyto ice road to the N.W.T.'s diamond mines this winter
Corporation discussed in camera
During last month's annual Tlicho gathering in Wekweeti, discussion of the corporation was conducted in camera, meaning media were not allowed to attend those talks.
The corporation has had some tough breaks in recent years.
Its remediation company lost $13 million and a big federal contract to clean up the contaminated Tundra Mine site. And some subsidiaries lost business when the Snap Lake diamond mine began shutting down in December.
- Companies walked away from N.W.T.Tundra mine with gov't consent
- N.W.T. braces for economic sting of Snap Lake mine shutdown
The Tlicho Government lent $3 million to the corporation in both the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, according to the government's most recent audited financial statements.