Paradigm Capital’s Barry Richards: My 2011 Cantech Letter Awards Picks

December 6, 2011 By Cantech

Barry Richards, Managing Director of Research for Paradigm Capital, thinks Wi-LAN's Jim Skippen is the 2011 Canadian Tech Stock Exec of the Year.

Was Wi-LAN’s (TSX:WIN) ill-fated attempt to seize control of cross-town rival Mosaid (TSX:MSD) the biggest story of the year in Canadian tech?

Our third 2011 Cantech Letter Awards judge, Barry Richards, Managing Director of Research Paradigm Capital, weighs in today. Richards pegs Mosaid as Canadian tech stock of the year, and Wi-LAN CEO Jim Skippen, a former Mosaid employee, as tech stock executive of the year.

In January, shareholders of Mosaid should have been more than pleased with the company’s performance since the recession of 2008. Shares of the Ottawa company could be had for $7.45 on November 14th, 2008, but closed 2010 at $29.73.

But the best was yet to come.

After Mosaid’s board rejected Wi-LAN’s offer of $42, the number was upped by US based private equity firm Sterling Partners who, on October 27th, reached a deal to acquire Mosaid at $46 a share, a 9.5% premium to the Wi-LAN bid. On December 19th, Mosaid shareholders will vote on whether or not they see this offer as an early Christmas present.

But few tears have been shed of late for Skippen’s Wi-LAN, which has become one of the biggest Canadian tech successes in recent memory. After trading as low as $1.19 in late October, 2008, the company’s stunning run to nearly $10 this past summer meant it became the most valuable technology concern in Ottawa.