Owl on the Branch — Patient Predation

"Couche-Tard management had been making big promises about their next conquest; but they couldn’t deliver the goods. Prudence, Bouchard urged. Patience, Richard Fortin added. “Our logo is an owl,” says Fortin. “We perched on our branch, looked at the numbers, and when we spotted prey that seemed weak enough, we swooped down on it.”"

"In the summer of 1996, taking advantage of a drop in Silcorp’s shares, Couche-Tard presented an unsolicited purchase offer of $16.50 per share—the equivalent of $74 million. It was a premium of 26 percent over the previous month’s average stock price. Silcorp’s share price immediately jumped to $17.00: A sign that the market anticipated a higher bid. That expectation was accurate."

"Acquiring Johnson Oil and its Bigfoot stores would add USD $350 million to Couche-Tard’s annual sales. The USD $66 million price tag was therefore fairly modest—particularly since the company was already making a profit."

"When the presentation was over, all the interested groups were granted access to a room containing all the company’s data: contracts, leases, financial results, accounts, employee records, technical assessments. Each potential buyer had two days to dig into the massive amount of information. Réal Plourde remembers a funny scene at the marathon. “The seller was pretty impressed to see the founders of Couche-Tard with our noses in the books, while the other groups had sent lawyers and accountants.”"