Shoppers look at products inside Selfridges in the West End shopping district of London, on Nov. 26, 2021. The Weston Family’s holding company, Wittington Investments Ltd. Wittington is looking to redeploy the proceeds of its estimated $6.9-billion sale Selfridges & Co. in 2021, into more innovative opportunities.MAY JAMES/Reuters
The billionaire Weston family is reshaping its personal investment strategy to finance more innovative areas of the global economy, including clean energy, early-stage technology companies and disruptive retail and consumer products companies.
The makeover follows the passing of patriarch W. Galen Weston two years ago.
The Weston family, one of Canada’s wealthiest, is best known as the controlling shareholder of publicly traded grocery giant Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T. The company has sharply boosted earnings under the leadership of Mr. Weston’s son Galen G. Weston in recent years, while defending itself, along with other retailers, from consumer criticism over the skyrocketing price of food, which has outpaced inflation.
But the family also owns billions of dollars worth of private assets through its holding company, Wittington Investments Ltd. That vast private portfolio is undergoing an extreme makeover.
Last September, Jane Segal joined Wittington as managing director for fund investments – a role that will see her deploy money to outside private-capital fund managers – following a stint building and leading the external managers program at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan.
This month, Zvi Orvitz joined Wittington as another managing director after building and leading the energy sector unit of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s private-capital division. During his 15 years at Teachers, Mr. Orvitz led private-equity buyouts and growth-equity investments in “energy and power, sustainability and the energy transition,” according to his LinkedIn biography. He has been tasked with leading the family’s investments in companies participating in the energy sector’s green transition.
Wittington is also working with an outside recruiter to hire a third managing director to make private-equity and growth-equity investments in disruptive retail and consumer products companies, a source familiar with the matter said. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source as they are not authorized to discuss the matter.
The Weston family company has also expanded its support for early-stage technology companies. Wittington started its own in-house venture capital unit in 2019, committing $100-million to tech startups, with one-third of the funding coming from Loblaw.
Wittington Ventures, led by veteran private-capital investor Jim Orlando – previously a partner with OMERS Ventures – has since backed several early-stage companies. They include California-based driverless truck developer Gatik, whose vehicles are being tested by Loblaw, and Canadian startups Qui Identity, an online identity-authentication provider, and Odaia Intelligence Inc., which uses artificial intelligence to help pharmaceutical companies promote drugs to health care practitioners.
Now, Wittington is investing out of a second, $120-million venture-capital fund, which it quietly launched last fall. Loblaw committed half the capital to the new fund, according to the retailer’s public regulatory disclosures.
Wittington has effectively shifted from one luxury (retailers) to another: The ability to hire senior investment professionals from Canada’s pension-fund giants to launch alternative private-capital programs. That gives the Westons the ability and capacity to embark on investing strategies that only Canada’s largest institutional investors can afford to support.
The first signs of a shift in the Weston family’s investment strategy came after Galen G. Weston succeeded his father in September, 2016, as chief executive of George Weston Ltd. (GWL), the publicly traded company controlled by the family through Wittington, which in turn owns a controlling stake in Loblaw and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.
Wittington invested in health technology startup League Inc. in 2018 and backed the first, US$350-million fund, from Radical Ventures, a Canadian AI-focused venture capital firm. GWL invested in a consumer products-oriented venture capital fund led by Dragons’ Den star Arlene Dickinson in 2016.
But Wittington has stepped up its move into innovative areas of the economy since the passing of W. Galen Weston in April, 2021. The family holding company sold the 18-store Selfridges luxury retail group – which the elder Mr. Weston had built up over decades – late that year to Central Group of Thailand and Austrian real estate company Signa Group. Also in 2021, GWL sold its bakery operations, which had been the foundation of the family business since the 1880s.
The younger Mr. Weston took on the role of president in 2021, and that year recruited senior Bay Street lawyer Cornell Wright,former chair of corporate law with Torys LLP, to succeed long-time family lieutenant Pavi Binning as president of Wittington on Jan. 1, 2022. Loblaw in April said Mr. Weston plans to step back from day-to-day operations as it announced the hiring of European retail executive Per Bank as president and CEO.Mr. Weston will remain chairman of Loblaw, and has said he will remain deeply involved in the company’s strategic direction.
Mr. Wright and Wittington’s new investment leaders join a slew of at least 10 other outsiders who have joined the family holding company in the past two years, including Louise Porthouse, managing director of people and culture and a former vice-president of human resources for Canada with MasterCard; finance vice-president Jackie Yau, who previously held senior accounting roles with Dream Unlimited and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment; and several taxation and accounting executives. David Morris, a former chief financial officer of investment firm Gluskin Sheff, joined as CFO of Wittington last year.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
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