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Corporate History
Restructuring and
Diversification
1996 - 1981
 In
July 1981 Power Corporation made an abrupt break with its history by selling
its wholly owned CSL Group for $195 million. Gone was its long and important
association with Canada Steamship Lines; gone, too, for the first time in
Paul Desmarais’s business career, was the bus service. But Power’s
disposition of one important company in the transportation sector allowed
it, according to federal regulations, to invest in another, even bigger
one. Almost immediately it purchased 4.4 per cent of the voting shares of
Canadian Pacific Limited, the giant rail, shipping, oil, and real estate
conglomerate, as well as holding another 1.4 per cent through its subsidiaries.
A 10-year standstill agreement with CP restricted Power to buying no more
than 15 per cent while giving it two seats on Canadian Pacific’s board
and one on the executive committee.
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