Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Monday, April 9, 2007

IQALUIT - NorTerra Inc. has entered the industrial supply sector with its acquisition of Northern Metalic Sales in the NWT and Yukon and Northern Industrial Sales in British Columbia. The acquisition makes NorTerra the largest provider of industrial supplies North of 60.

NorTerra was looking for niches in the marketplace, and the industrial supply sector seemed a good fit, said company president Carmen Loberg.

The company, jointly owned by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation and Nunasi Corporation, already owns Canadian North, Northern Transportation Company Limited, and Weldco-Beales, a heavy-equipment designer and manufacturer.

"This acquisition keeps our feet squarely planted in Northern enterprise," Loberg said.

"We have a good deal of knowledge about how to provide customer service in remote areas."

The deal includes seven Northern Metalic Sales branches in the NWT and the Yukon and five Northern Industrial Sales branches in central and northern B.C.

Each store was successful in its market but failed to coordinate to expand the business, Loberg said.

"Part of what NorTerra will do is bring more of a corporate focus to it," Loberg said.

"This larger company will mean that our customers will see the advantages of volume purchasing, and other efficiencies of scale without losing the personal service and local insights that have made the companies successful to date," said Derek Wilson, president of the merged companies.

New product lines are being investigated, but details are not yet available. NorTerra also has expansion plans and sees Nunavut as a potential market.

"High on our list is to develop a strategy to expand into the marketplace in Nunavut."

Loberg said that the territory is not currently well served by any local industrial supply company.

"The NWT and Nunavut mining world is very robust these days," creating demand for industrial goods.

Current staffing levels at the 12 store branches will not be changed, and Loberg anticipates new positions will become available. "Our idea is to grow each store, and as they grow we will need more people," he said.

Prior to the acquisition of Northern Metalic Sales and Northern Industrial Sales NorTerra employed 1,100 permanent, full-time workers between its three companies. This number jumps to 1,300 in the summer when the marine transportation company becomes more active.

NorTerra had been working on this deal for the past five years.