Further to my post of 15
March 2013 (http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/03/pierre-karl-peladeau-stepping-down-as.html),
on May 15 (a week after he leaves his role as president and CEO of Quebecor on
May 8) Pierre Karl Péladeau will become chairman of the board and an
independent board member of the Crown corporation Hydro-Québec, Canada’s
largest power utility. Mr.
Péladeau reportedly asked for and received this prestigious new role from
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, whose office announced the appointment last
week.
Macleans has already
criticized the appointment as a nakedly political and partisan move by Ms.
Marois’s party, the Parti Québécois.
Yesterday’s Montreal Gazette speculates that Mr. Péladeau’s ultimate goal is to become Quebec’s next
premier.
His new role is expected to
last five years and to save Hydro-Québec over $500,000 (since he has asked not
to be paid, and his predecessor, Michael Turcotte, received $125,000 annually.)
Meanwhile Mr.
Péladeau will also remain the largest shareholder of Quebecor Inc. (effectively
retaining him control of the company that his father founded in 1950) and will
also assume a new position as chairman of two Quebecor subsidiaries, Quebecor
Media Inc. (QMI) and TVA Group. He
has also been named vice-chairman of the board at parent company Quebecor Inc.,
and will retain a mandate from Quebecor to seek a National Hockey League team
for Quebec City.
Additionally, Mr. Péladeau is back in the news for his part in an August news conference asking the federal
government to disallow a proposed takeover of Astral Media Inc. by Bell Media,
since despite opposition the takeover still seems to be actively proceeding.
Pierre Karl
Péladeau’s Hockey Project
In 2011 Mr. Péladeau
was reportedly instrumental in persuading Quebec’s former Liberal provincial government to
commit up to $200 million toward a new National Hockey League-ready arena in
Quebec City by offering additional tens of millions of dollars to support the project.
Then In March 2012 he
secured a deal with Quebec City to give Quebecor naming rights for the future
arena and exclusive rights to manage the facility.
By the terms of the deal, if an NHL team is
acquired, Quebecor will pay the city $63.5 million for naming rights, plus $5
million in annual rent for the arena. Without one, the company will instead pay
$33 million for the rights and an average of $3.15 million annually for rent.
Quebec City lost its
NHL team when the Nordiques relocated to Denver in 1995. Although the new arena is expected to be complete by
September 2015, no guarantee exists that the city will ever get a team back.
Links about Mr. Péladeau’s
career:
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/04/17/quebecor-chairman-pierre-karl-peladeau-joins-hydro-quebec-board
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/17/bce-astral-plan-critics.html?cmp=rss
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/11/16/bce-astral-deal-shares-halted_n_2144220.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/11/16/bce-astral-deal-shares-halted_n_2144220.html
Hockey links:
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/15/fading-to-background-of-quebecor-peladeau-said-to-be-eyeing-nhl/
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/15/fading-to-background-of-quebecor-peladeau-said-to-be-eyeing-nhl/
