Norwegian firm

"N 1992, CHC COULD rightly claim the title of third-largest helicopter services company in the world. Helicopter Services Group (Hsq), a Norwegian firm, was the clear leader measured by gross income, followed by the U.K.’s Bristow Group. Third place may have impressed others, but it was never acceptable for Craig Dobbin. cuc, he was determined, would become the dominant firm in its industry, and he was too impatient to wait around while it grew from within. He would expand the company through acquisition, and the beginnings of an opportunity presented itself on November 5, 1991, through an event in the waters of the Atlantic off the Canary Islands."

"Losing $50 million worth of business was upsetting enough, but losing it to the Norwegian firm was doubly galling, because cuc was not permitted to bid on helicopter services in Norway. Legal counsel advised Dobbin that cuc could appeal the contract under the provisions of the Atlantic Accord, designed to favour firms in Newfoundland and Labrador in the sharing of Hibernia and other offshore petroleum earnings. Craig Dobbin always enjoyed a battle, and he was hardly a stranger to civil litigation. He rejected the idea, however. Dragging the case through the courts was not likely to endear him to the large petroleum companies he wanted to do business with. Besides, legal arguments bored him. But wheeling and dealing—that was the source of one of the many twinkles in Craig Dobbin’s Irish eyes."