Anglais

Barry Sherman’s son tells Apotex CEO to leave

Published

5 années ago

décembre 19, 2018

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Two days before the anniversary of Barry Sherman’s murder, Jonathon Sherman told his father’s longtime partner and friend Jack Kay to leave Apotex, the generic drug company the two men built over 35 years.

Kay, the chief executive officer of Apotex, was sitting in his office last Tuesday when Jonathon Sherman walked in and said his services were no longer required, according to a source with knowledge of what happened.

Kay was told to return to Apotex after business hours to collect his belongings.

“It was like a gut punch. Actually, a gut punch is an understatement,” said an Apotex insider with knowledge of what happened on Dec. 11. By Monday of this week, Canada’s small pharmaceutical manufacturing industry was buzzing with the news that Kay was out the door.

At the time of Kay’s dismissal, plans were being made for a company-wide day of mourning later that week. The bodies of Barry Sherman and his wife Honey were found in their Toronto home on Dec. 15, 2017, two days after they are believed to have been strangled there in what police have termed a “targeted” double homicide.

Berman responded with a statement confirming Kay’s departure, but did not answer questions about the manner of his departure or the apparent tensions between Kay and Barry Sherman’s son.

“Upon the successful completion of our transition plan, Jack Kay is no longer with the company,” Berman wrote. “All of us at Apotex wish Jack the best of luck in his future pursuits. Jeff Watson, currently president and COO, is now ready to lead Apotex into the future. Jeff has been with Apotex for 24+ years, working in various capacities including chief commercial officer for North America, and president of global generics. Jeff is well respected within the industry, and we are very proud to have him leading the company.”

Reached by the Star Tuesday, Kay declined to comment.

The Sherman children recently offered a $10-million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed their parents. A tip line set up by the family directs callers to a private investigation team — not Toronto police, who had treated the case as a murder-suicide until a Star story prompted them to review the results of private autopsies conducted on the victims’ bodies.

Kay, 78, who owns shares in the privately held Apotex, was vice-chairman of the company’s board of directors but semi-retired from executive duties when Barry Sherman died. He was called into action by the Sherman family and the Apotex executive team in the days that followed, and in January was reinstated as chief executive officer, a job he had previously held for many years.

Kay was working for a pharmaceutical company in Montreal when he was headhunted by Barry Sherman in 1982 to be vice-president of sales and marketing for Apotex, the company Sherman had founded in the mid-1970s. In an interview with the Star last summer, Kay described how he and Sherman hit it off immediately.

“For each of us, it is fair to say we were the brother neither of us had,” he recalled. “That day in Montreal, he said, ‘Jack, come work with me. We will build Apotex and we will make a bit of money and have fun.’”

Kay, a workout enthusiast with a crushing handshake who maintained a strict diet, was the polar opposite of Sherman, who loved chocolate and junk food and only exercised because wife Honey insisted, say long time colleagues and friends. Kay and his wife, Pat, often dined with Barry and Honey, and the couples maintained a close friendship.

Under Sherman and Kay, Apotex grew to a multinational and multibillion dollar generic drug manufacturer, employing 10,000 people as of this year. According to Kay, and interviews with other Apotex executives over the past year, the two men worked closely for 35 years, starting in a shared office when the company was small and later in adjoining offices when it became a going concern. “Our connecting door was always open,” Kay recalled in an interview last summer.

Sherman was the scientist and the idea man, Kay said, while his job was to “operationalize” Sherman’s ideas.

When Barry and Honey Sherman were killed, majority ownership of the company went to the Sherman children: Lauren, 43, Jonathon, 35, Alexandra, 32, and Kaelen, 28. None of them were working at Apotex at the time.

The Sherman estate has four trustees: Jack Kay, Jonathon Sherman, Brad Krawczyk (who is Alexandra’s husband), and Alex Glasenberg, an Apotex executive who manages the family’s investments. A court has sealed the estate file, saying it contains information that could be of importance to the police investigation and due to a fear of the family of “kidnapping and violence” if details of the file were revealed. The Star is appealing the sealing order.

In the past year, Apotex continued its role as Canada’s biggest generic pharmaceutical company, but has sold off some of the international business interests Kay and Barry Sherman had grown or purchased. During the summer, Apotex announced it had sold its commercial interests in the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Belgium to “further accelerate our efforts to drive additional growth in the Americas,” according to a statement by Watson, who was hired many years ago by Kay and Sherman.

Kay had moved into Barry Sherman’s office in the Apotex headquarters at 150 Signet Dr., and photos of the two men together over the years — some in business suits, some in lab coats — adorned the walls prior to Kay’s departure last week.

According to sources in Canada’s pharmaceutical industry, there was growing tension between the 35-year-old Jonathon Sherman and Kay over what direction the company should take.

The sources say that Kay, as a shareholder and longtime executive, had planned to retire in the coming months but wanted to remain connected to Apotex out of loyalty to Barry Sherman and because of his institutional knowledge of the company. Kay wanted to make sure Sherman’s “legacy was protected,” sources say.

Jonathon Sherman keeps a low profile. He has briefly worked in some of his father’s non-pharmaceutical businesses over the years, and is involved in a storage company. He lives with his husband on a sprawling, heavily wooded property in King City, north of Toronto. Land registry records show Jonathon purchased the property at a cost of $2 million in 2006, when he was 23.

At the funeral for his parents, Jonathon noted that his father was often and understandably too busy to attend his sporting events when he was a child but, on the few occasions he did watch him play hockey or baseball, “those few games were my Stanley Cups and my World Series.” Jonathon also told mourners that his father was a “real-life super hero” and a “great Canadian.”

Of his mother, Jonathon told mourners that Honey was heavily involved in his childhood, making sure to attend all parent-teacher interviews and after-school events. “Our mother always had everything taken care of,” he said.

The Star has made several attempts to interview Jonathon Sherman about his parents and their legacy. However, the Star could not agree to Sherman’s terms — he wanted “sole and absolute discretion” to edit any information about him of which he did not approve.

At the funeral, Jack Kay told the mourners that “for 35 years I was incredibly privileged to work side by side, day by day with Barry.”

Kay said he was lucky to have “partnered with him as he built Apotex into the incredible enterprise it is today … Barry and I would refer to each other as brothers and I cannot tell you how much I will miss him.”

Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca. Follow him @_kevindonovan

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

Published

3 années ago

août 10, 2021

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline.

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors.

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity.

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement.

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level.

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet.

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

Published

3 années ago

juillet 23, 2021

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.