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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Management of RTL Robinson Enterprises, one of Yellowknife's oldest and largest homegrown companies, has passed quietly to TriWest Capital Partners, a Calgary investment company.

Sean Praetzel climbs into a RTL Robinson Enterprises truck. The company has undergone a transition in management. - NNSL file photo

Marvin Robinson, the last member of the family to serve on the board of the company founded in 1968 by his father Richard, retired as a director in July last year. The company is now managed from the Edmonton office of RTL-Westcan.

Donny Robinson said the family retains shares in the company but is no longer active in management. He cited fatigue after more than 30 years of building and running the company as well as the changing business climate in the Northwest Territories.

"The timing was good for us," Robinson said. "We were tired, we had enough - we have been in this most of our life and it was time to get out.

"It was time, it felt right."

The transition began in 2007 when TriWest amalgamated RTL-Robinson Enterprises Ltd. and Westcan Bulk Transport Ltd. to create the largest niche commodity hauler in Western Canada and the dominant Alberta-NWT transportation/infrastructure company.

"Combined with Westcan, the business is much broader," said Cody Church, a managing director at TriWest Capital Partners. "It's a very large enterprise and gave the Yellowknife operation access to a tremendous amount of equipment for the ice road - the combined company has about more than doubled the size of the fleet."

TriWest was founded in 1998 and its website describes it as, "one of Canada's leading private equity firms with over $425 million of committed capital." It focuses on "profitable mid-size companies in partnership with existing management teams."

"The goal was to invest in established well-run companies with proven track records and sustainable competitive advantages - and that made RTL Robinson a natural fit," said Church.

"RTL was, and is, a fantastic business. The Robinsons built an amazing company. They should be applauded and recognized for that - they did a fantastic job of building the business."

RTL Robinson evolved into a company that provides transportation, construction and logistics services across the Western Arctic and is a key player in summer and winter road construction. Westcan provides bulk transport services, primarily in Western Canada and the northwest U.S.

RTL-Westcan is managed from the Edmonton office of CEO Tom Kenny. Kenny started as an 18-year-old driver in the mid-1970s and borrowed money to buy his first truck. He joined Westcan when the company bought his main employer.

Kenny has said each of the carriers under TriWest operates in different markets and that growth for each carrier likely won't come through diversification - so, the fleets will lean on each other to create a better support network.

"Our sister companies have a positive impact on our business, and vice-versa," Kenny said. "Through our relationship with RTL, we are able to develop synergies that will ultimately allow us to strengthen our position in the marketplace."

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