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| Mayo Schmidt |
If the Glencore-Richardson-Agrium deal to buy Viterra for
$6.1 billion goes through, Viterra ceo Mayo Schmidt stands to make $37.5
million if he sells his shares.
That’s a calculation made by the Globe and Mail after
looking at company documents and the deal.
It would be easy to be jealous or critical of the amount
Schmidt stands to profit, but I think he earned it.
When he took over as chief executive officer, the company
was in bankruptcy.
He not only pulled it out of the ditch, but also set it on a
solid path to profitability.
He also guided it through the transition from a cooperative
to a publicly-traded company.
That made perfect sense given the population of cooperative
shareholders and their much different needs and operations from the days when
the Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and United Grain Growers cooperatives were
formed.
It’s yet to be seen whether Glencore will prove to be a good
addition to the Prairie grain industry.
Frankly, I doubt it.
The company’s history is marred by a recent chief executive
who fled Canada’s law-enforcement authorities and by a lot of mines in
violence-prone parts of the world, especially Africa where corporate
mercenaries exercise brutal control.
Under the Canadian Wheat Board, Canada earned an enviable
record for quality, honesty, integrity and service. The reputation came at a
high cost to farmers, including lost opportunities to grow higher-yielding,
lower-protein wheats.
But it would be a travesty to lose the hard-earned
reputation to corporate shenanigans and greed.
We are going to need a strong and effective Canadian Grain
Commission, Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Canadian Border Services Agency,
to name but a few of the authorities that should be keeping watch.
