Arab oil sheikhs invested $1.5 billion in Canada during 1974, mainly in Canadian state or provincial bonds or short term bank deposits. But no Canadian enterprise has been taken over by Arab interests so far, according to a report in the newspaper, La Presse.
The report stated that Kuwait has bought $400 million worth of Quebec bonds alone and has invested important sums in British Columbia and Newfoundland. Other unidentified Arab interests have offered a $400 million loan to the province of Saskatchewan. The recession in Canada and in the Western markets generally, has obliged Canadian banks, five of which have opened branches in Arab countries in the Middle East, to reject offers of short term Arab investments, La Presse said.
Canadian bankers are reported to be interested in 20 year long-term investments in Canada. “There is no scarcity of money for short term loans in our banks and there is no need to go look for such money to the Arabs,” an important Canadian banker who asked to remain anonymous told La Presse. He said that “If banks have not gone any further than opening branches in the Middle East, big Canadian companies like Alcan, Bell Canada and Power Corporation are testing grounds for big loans in Arab capitals.”
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