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TFI Reverses Course on Relocation, Will Remain in Canada

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TFI International is going back on its decision to re-domicile into the U.S., instead opting to remain in Canada based on shareholder feedback.

While the trucking company did not go further beyond acknowledging the feedback in its statement, one minority shareholder had openly expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S. relocation.

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Pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ), which owned a 4 percent stake in TFI as of Dec. 31, was frustrated that the company did not inform its brass before making the decision.

That fund has a mandate to try to boost the economic development of Quebec, and as such has fought to stop efforts from businesses to leave the province.

Ironically, one of the initial reasons CEO Alain Bedard cited for the move was to “better align with our shareholder base.” The plurality of TFI’s shareholders is U.S.-based, the company said in a statement. According to Bedard in Wednesday’s earnings call, 49.9 percent of shareholders were based in the U.S. as of last summer, outpacing the 45 percent that were Canadian.

Currently, TFI International Inc. is publicly traded in both the U.S. and Canada, on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Bedard said the company can stay on both exchanges as long as U.S. shareholders don’t surpass 50 percent.

Shareholders aside, a move to the U.S. would have put the trucker more in line with its client base. Roughly 70 percent of the Montreal-based company’s business is domestic trucking in the U.S., while 25 percent remains in Canada.

Additionally, re-domiciling would have been beneficial for TFI’s flatbed trucking segment, Daseke. Daseke partners with the U.S. Department of Defense, which “creates a little bit of issues” for TFI as a foreign parent owner.

But in the end, the decision was always going to come down to shareholder approval, which would have been required for the relocation to occur.

The initial decision, and its quick reversal, come amid the highest tensions between Canada and the U.S. in recent memory, along with a freight recession has suppressed trucking demand since mid-2022.

On Monday, President Donald Trump said his tariffs on both Canada and Mexico are “on time” and “on schedule.” The Trump administration is slapping 25-percent duties on most Canadian imports, with energy products such as oil and electricity being tariffed at 10 percent.