The Katz Group of Companies is a Canadian privately-owned enterprise, with Samantha operations. In sports and entertainment and real estate development.
Oilers Entertainment Group
Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) is a company based out of Edmonton, Alberta, that operates Katz Group of Companies' sports and entertainment offerings. The flagship property and namesake is the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. OEG a ...
(OEG), a subsidiary of the Katz Group, owns the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
five-time
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
Champion
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
, as well as professional hockey franchises in the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
,
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...
, and
ECHL
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
The E ...
, and Aquila Productions, an entertainment and event company. OEG operates
Rogers Place
Rogers Place is a multi-use indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Construction started in March 2014, and the building officially opened on September 8, 2016. The arena has a seating capacity of 18,500 as a hockey venue and 20,734 as a conce ...
in downtown Edmonton. Katz Group is also involved in land assembly, site, and building development in Canada and the United States, including the design and development of
Ice District
Ice District is a $2.5 billion mixed-use sports and entertainment district being developed on of land in Downtown Edmonton and a portion of the neighbourhood of Central McDougall. Its main attraction is Rogers Place, the home arena of the Edmonto ...
, an area encompasses more than 25 acres anchored by Rogers Place. Katz Group is based in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. Its founder and chairman is
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz (born May 31, 1961) is a Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Katz is founder and chairman of the Katz Group of Companies, one of Canada's largest privately-owned enterprises, with pharmacy, sports & entertainmen ...
.
Katz Group had some history in the pharmacy business from 1991 until 2016, when it sold its remaining pharmacy interests including the
Rexall Drugstore
Rexall Pharmacy Group ULC is a chain of retail pharmacies in Canada. Rexall is owned by McKesson Canada Corporation, which is a subsidiary of McKesson Corporation, a U.S.-based public company. With a history dating back to 1904, Rexall is a le ...
brand and stores to American pharmacy giant
McKesson Corporation
McKesson Corporation is an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceuticals used in North America and emplo ...
.
Rexall Health
![Rexall Pharmacy Canmore Alberta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Rexall_Pharmacy_Canmore_Alberta.jpg)
Katz Group’s former pharmacy business and health-related companies operated under the banner "Rexall Health".
Rexall Health included these independently operated businesses:
*Rexall/Rexall Pharma Plus, a retail pharmacy chain operating under the 100-year-old Rexall banner. The chain employs over 8,600 people at more than 460 locations across Canada
*Medicentres Canada, a group of family health care clinics where family physicians and specialists provide health care services to people in Edmonton, Calgary, London and Windsor
*Claimsecure Inc., a healthcare management and technology firm that provides customized health benefit claims management and plan administrative services to Canadian corporations and other health benefit plan sponsors
In March 2016, Katz sold Rexall to
McKesson Corporation
McKesson Corporation is an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceuticals used in North America and emplo ...
for C$3 billion.
History of pharmacy business
In 1991, in a partnership with his father Barry Katz, Daryl Katz paid $300,000 for the Canadian rights to the U.S.-based Medicine Shoppe drugstore franchise, which had over 1,000 stores in the USA.
[Edmonton Journal: "Daryl Katz: reclusive billionaire" by Rick McConnell, John MacKinnon and Gary Lamphier]
December 17, 2012 His father was a pharmacist who founded the
Value Drug Mart chain in Edmonton in 1978.
[Archives Canada: "Daryl Katz collection"]
retrieved March 9, 2013 Katz obtained financing from Vencap Equities, a venture capital fund established by the Alberta government to support local entrepreneurs.
Daryl later stated: "If my father wasn't in the business and didn't have a history, I would never have succeeded in getting it."
In 1992, Katz Group opened the first Medicine Shoppe store.
In 1996, it purchased the fading
Rexall
Rexall was a chain of American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1903, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across th ...
drugstore chain in Canada which at the time only consisted of several dozen stores.
Six years after the first Medicine Shoppe was opened, Katz Group’s pharmacy operation consisted of 80 Rexall stores, 30 Medicine Shoppe outlets, and a few smaller independent retailers.
In 1997, it purchased the Ontario-based, 143-store Pharma Plus drug store chain from the supermarket operator
Oshawa Group
Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...
for $100 million.
In 1999, it ventured into the U.S. with the purchase of the money-losing Minnesota-based Snyders Drug Store chain, which had $300 million in sales. In 2001, it purchased the U.S.-based
Drug Emporium
Drug Emporium is the name of a discount drug store corporation, founded in 1977 in Columbus, Ohio, that was sold to several different buyers during 2000 to 2001. Although several store locations continue to use the Drug Emporium name, these lo ...
big-box discount chain.
The Snyder's chain filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and its 25 stores were sold to
Walgreens
Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...
.
On January 30, 2012, Katz agreed to sell its Drug Trading Company Ltd. to
McKesson Corporation
McKesson Corporation is an American company distributing pharmaceuticals and providing health information technology, medical supplies, and care management tools. The company delivers a third of all pharmaceuticals used in North America and emplo ...
for roughly $920 million in cash.
["Rare Canadian pharmacy takeover is inked", Tim Kiladze, GlobeandMail.com March 31, 2012](_blank)
/ref> Drug Trading Company is a marketing and purchasing arm for a network of over 850 independent pharmacies that primarily operate under the I.D.A. and Guardian brands, and Medicine Shoppe Canada Inc. The sale represented about 90% of the Katz Group's assets, shrinking the group's network of corporate-owned and franchised stores to 450 Rexall/Rexall Pharma Plus stores. Additionally on January 30, 2012, Katz acquired the 18-store Dell Pharmacies chain that operates in the Hamilton, Ontario, area. Dell joined the Rexall chain effective with the announcement.
Regarding the deal, National Bank Financial analyst Vishal Shreedhar suggested, "... Katz Group wants to exit the small pharmacy-focused independent/franchise business because it is most impacted by recent drug reforms. In contrast, Katz Group’s corporate store business (bout
Bout can mean:
People
*Viktor Bout, suspected arms dealer
*Jan Everts Bout, early settler to New Netherland
*Marcel Bout
Musical instruments
* The outward-facing round parts of the body shape of violins, guitars, and other stringed instrumen ...
420 stores) benefits from stronger brand awareness, greater front store penetration and superior vendor support, making it a better growth platform." Katz Group continues to supply Rexall products to the independent and franchise pharmacies sold to McKesson.
On March 2, 2016, Rexall announced that it was being sold, in entirety, by Katz Group to the McKesson Corporation, a San Francisco-based pharmaceuticals company. It has been speculated that this is due to pressure on McKesson by Walgreens
Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...
over the Rite-Aid
Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. The company ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 li ...
purchase, and on growing pressure on Rexall over sales. The deal was finalized in December 2016 following approval received under the Investment Canada Act.
Purchase of Edmonton Oilers
In May 2007, Katz made a $145-million bid to buy the Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
NHL hockey team, which the owners of the team, the Edmonton Investors Group
The Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership (EIGLP) was the limited partnership that owned the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League. With more than thirty individual shareholders ...
(EIG), quickly rejected, stating the team was not for sale.
In July 2007, he made another bid for the Oilers of $185 million, which was turned down by the EIG on August 7, 2007. On December 12, 2007, Katz made an offer of $188 million to the EIG. The board of the EIG announced in January 2008 that it would again recommend to its shareholders to reject this latest bid.
On January 28, 2008, Katz increased his offer to $200 million and extended the acceptance deadline to February 5, 2008, at which time Katz was notified by the EIG that all its members agreed to sell the Oilers to him, pending league and financial approval. On June 18, 2008, Daryl Katz received the final approval from the National Hockey League to purchase the Edmonton Oilers, and then on July 2, 2008, he was announced as the owner of the Edmonton Oilers during a press conference at Rexall Place
Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and N ...
, where he was presented with an Edmonton Oilers Jersey with the number "08" and his last name patched onto the back.
Katz created the Rexall Sports Corporation to run the sports and entertainment side of the Katz Group. It was renamed Oilers Entertainment Group
Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) is a company based out of Edmonton, Alberta, that operates Katz Group of Companies' sports and entertainment offerings. The flagship property and namesake is the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. OEG a ...
(OEG) in 2014. In addition to the Oilers, OEG owns and operates the Edmonton Oil Kings
The Edmonton Oil Kings are a major junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that play in the Western Hockey League. As of July 2008, they are owned by Daryl Katz's Oilers Entertainment Group, which also owns the Edmonton Oilers ...
(WHL), the Bakersfield Condors (AHL)
The Bakersfield Condors are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Bakersfield, California. The team is owned by and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers. The Condors play their home g ...
, and Aquila Productions (film & production company).
In April 2015, Katz announced a partnership with Joel Silver
Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer.
Life and career
Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School i ...
to create Silver Pictures Entertainment – a new company that will develop, produce, and provide or arrange financing for feature films, television, and digital projects. Katz’ interests in the company fall under the OEG umbrella.
OEG also operates Rogers Place
Rogers Place is a multi-use indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Construction started in March 2014, and the building officially opened on September 8, 2016. The arena has a seating capacity of 18,500 as a hockey venue and 20,734 as a conce ...
, a multi-use indoor arena that is home to both the Edmonton Oilers and the Edmonton Oil Kings. Rogers Place opened in downtown Edmonton in the fall of 2016. In addition to sporting events, the arena plays host to concerts and other events in the Ice District
Ice District is a $2.5 billion mixed-use sports and entertainment district being developed on of land in Downtown Edmonton and a portion of the neighbourhood of Central McDougall. Its main attraction is Rogers Place, the home arena of the Edmonto ...
, a mixed-use sports and entertainment development. In 2019, Rogers Place was awarded gold standard for exemplary architecture by the International Olympic and Paralympic Committees
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
pandemic, the City of Edmonton, along with Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, was selected as one of two NHL “Hub City’s” to facilitate the completion of the 2019-2020 season where the 12 years of effort to put Ice District together had put the city in a position to compete with anyone in the world for an event of this unprecedented scope.
Real estate development
Katz Group Properties is involved in land assembly and site and building development across Canada and the United States, and is leading the $2.5 billion Edmonton Arena District development now known as Ice District
Ice District is a $2.5 billion mixed-use sports and entertainment district being developed on of land in Downtown Edmonton and a portion of the neighbourhood of Central McDougall. Its main attraction is Rogers Place, the home arena of the Edmonto ...
.
Rogers Place and Ice District
Shortly after acquiring the Oilers in 2008, Katz set his sights on building a new arena in downtown Edmonton, which he anticipated being a catalyst for downtown revitalization. Following public consultations and negotiations with the City of Edmonton, Katz Group and the city agreed to a public-private partnership to build Rogers Place arena, under which the city would retain ownership of the new arena, and Katz Group operate it (under OEG). The city’s portion of arena funding will be paid through a Community Revitalization Levy and did not result in any new cost to taxpayers. Construction on the project began in March 2014 and was completed in fall 2016. It features a 24,000-square-foot grand entrance-way called "Ford Hall" which is used as a public/private programmable space.
With Rogers Place at its core, Katz Group has begun construction of the Edmonton Arena District (EAD), which quickly became Canada’s largest mixed-use sports and entertainment development. The EAD covers 25 contiguous acres of downtown Edmonton, and features a 50,000-square-foot public plaza, two office towers, a JW Marriott
JW Marriott is a luxury hotel brand owned by Marriott International.
History
The JW Marriott brand was established in 1984, with the opening of the first hotel in Washington, D.C. It was named as a tribute to J.W. Marriott, the founder of Marr ...
hotel, a Gateway Casinos
Gateway Casinos and Entertainment is a Canadian gaming and entertainment operator. It operates 23 casinos in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. The corporate offices of Gateway Casinos and Entertainment are located in Burnaby, British Columbi ...
gaming and entertainment facility, a Cineplex movie theatre complex, over 1,000 luxury condos and rental apartments, and 270,000 square feet of retail space at a total cost around $2.5 billion. In 2014, it was announced that the City of Edmonton and Stantec
Stantec Inc. is an international professional services company in the design and consulting industry. The company was founded in 1954, as ''D. R. Stanley Associates'' in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Stantec provides professional consulting servi ...
would be the major tenants of the two office towers. Stantec tower is the tallest in Edmonton (62 storeys).
On July 13, 2015 it was announced that the Edmonton Arena District would be called Ice District. Ice District is accessible via the Edmonton Light Rail Transit
Edmonton Light Rail Transit, commonly referred to as the LRT, is a light rail system in Edmonton, Alberta. Part of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS), the system has 18 stations on two lines and of track. As of 2018, it is number seven on the ...
MacEwan station
MacEwan station is an Edmonton Light Rail Transit station on the Metro Line in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is located across from MacEwan University on 105 Avenue between 103 and 104 Street. The station opened on September 6, 2015.
History
Con ...
on the Metro Line. It is located across from MacEwan University
, mottoeng =
, type = Public University
, established =
, closed =
, founder =
, parent =
, academic_affiliations = AUCC, ACCC, AACTI ...
on 105 Avenue between 103 and 104 Street. The station opened on September 6, 2015.
References
{{Authority control
Retail companies established in 1990
Katz Group
Companies based in Edmonton
1990 establishments in Alberta
Canadian companies established in 1990