The Goldman Touch: Connacher's New Direction?

Less than 10 days after the shake-up that saw CEO Richard “Dick” Gusella departing to complete the sweep in the head office of Connacher Oil and Gas (TSX:CLL), the company announced today its future direction which includes the enlistment of Goldman Sachs to assist the Advisory Board. In an apparent update released today to shareholders and other investors, the future of Connacher was alluded to, but not necessarily clearly laid out.

Sometimes less is more, and when it comes to this press release, the update left lingering wonder in the air. Sure the statements about liquidity were clear in their intention to remove uneasy feelings about the company, but Connacher is still without a CEO or a COO. Despite the headline’s claim that the future direction would be contained within, actual details beyond the Goldman entry are eerily absent.

The message coming from the release is that it’s going to keep up its operations on a business-as-usual basis, but past that, the content is filled out with the bios of the management that are still in place. But when it comes to any hints or tipping of the company’s hand, all that is new from the release is the following:

“The company's Board of Directors has initiated a process to review Connacher's business plan and to identify, examine and consider all strategies available to the company, both near and long term, in order to prudently determine the optimal course of action for the company.  Goldman Sachs has been engaged to assist the Board of Directors in connection with this strategic review. Connacher does not intend to make any further announcements regarding its review unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a particular course of action or otherwise deems disclosure of developments is appropriate.”

At this stage, after the start that 2012 has represented for Connacher, it’s completely understandable that the company had to say something. There’s been a lot of pressure from both investors and those following the story to see what Connacher is going to do next, and judging by this press release, this unhappy group won’t be getting the answers they seek in the near future.

Going forward, it’ll be interesting to see how co-Managing Directors Colin M. Evans and Kelly J. Ogle manage the unruly hoards that made Gusella’s life so difficult in 2011.

G. Joel Chury
Editor in Chief
VantageWire.com

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