Nunasi, Kitikmeot Corp. buy out Fred H. Ross

Acquisition puts corporations in better position to compete against Inuvialuit and southern firms.

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

SEAN McKIBBON

IQALUIT — A major player in the construction and clean-up industries in the Kitikmeot region has been taken over by a joint venture between Nunasi and the Kitikmeot Corporation. The two companies annonced their purchase of Fred H. Ross and Associates this week.

Fred Hunt, Nunasi’s CEO, says the move leaves the two companies in a better position to take advantage of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental clean-up contracts in the Kitikmeot region.

“With the acquisition of Fred H. Ross, and of course all of the assets, being the heavy equipment, we believe that our ability to clean up all of the sites in the Kitikmeot — both DIAND sites and North Warning System sites — is very real,” Hunt said.

He estimates there could be as much as $200 million available in contracts to clean up those sites, and that purchasing Fred H. Ross and Associates would allow the Kitikmeot Corporation and Nunasi to be more competitive in bidding for those contracts.

The three companies had been part of a joint venture in a Dew line site clean up in Cambridge Bay.

“It reduces our overheads,” he said. “And again, we have all of the assets that we require to do all of this work. It’s now under our ownership.”

Ross said potential competitors for new clean-up contracts could include firms from the Inuvialuit region of the Northwest Territories who have experience in environmental remediation and are nearing the end of their work.

“There’s people over there who could bid against us. Someone like Gruben’s Transport for example, who will be very soon looking for something to do,” Hunt said. He added that companies from the South will also seek potential clean up work.

“That’s a substantial amount of work over the next 10 years that’s going to be out there,” he said.

But other sectors of of the industry also look promising for continued growth and make the purchase of the company a sound business move, Hunt said.

“With the amount of construction that will take place in Nunavut, we’re very very well positioned to be very competitive in that field, as well as the building supply field, which is part of what Fred H. Ross does now,” he said.

While Hunt would not disclose how much the two companies paid for Fred H. Ross and Associates, he did say that it was a seven digit number.

“It’s probably the largest, or one of the largest assets available in Nunavut that is or was available for the Inuit to purchase,” Hunt said.

“This is a result of the new economy. It’s because of the becoming of Nunavut and the finalization of the Nunavut final agreement. This is the kind of thing that is going to happen more and more and more now,” Hunt said.

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