TFI Abandons Move to US After Shareholder Backlash
TFI International's headquarters in Montreal. TFI had announced during its Feb. 19 earnings call that it was re-domiciling to the U.S. (TFI International)
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Canadian trucking company TFI International reversed its decision to move its legal headquarters to the U.S., saying it was backing down after shareholders expressed opposition to the idea.
The Montreal-based company told investors last week that it planned to change its domicile to the U.S., where about 70% of its operations are now located after an acquisition spree. TFI has bought dozens of businesses over the years, and in 2024 it closed the purchase of Daseke Inc. of Texas for $1.1 billion, including debt.
But the relocation plan drew a swift rebuke from the powerful Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, one of TFI’s largest shareholders. The public pension manager has a mandate to try to boost the economic development of Quebec, and a spokesperson suggested TFI had blindsided investors with the decision.
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CEO Alain Bédard told analysts the relocation was an “evolution” that stemmed in part from regulatory requirements and wouldn’t have a big impact on operations. “It’s business as usual,” he said on a conference call with analysts. “We’re not moving people from Canada to the U.S. We’re not doing that. We’re not stupid.”
The TFI controversy is occurring at a time when Canadians are expressing anger and dismay over U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy, which aims to dominate the global race for investment capital partly by imposing tariffs on products provided by foreign companies.
Trump’s tariffs and repeated taunts about turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state have prompted a patriotic fervor in Canada over the past few weeks, with Canadian consumers shunning U.S. labels in favor of domestic products. Kraft Heinz Co. even took out television advertising on the Canadian broadcast of the Super Bowl to highlight its Canadian-sourced products. The ad used the tagline: “Made by Canadians. For Canadians.”
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TFI ranks No. 4 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 8 on TT’s list of the top LTL carriers. It ranks No. 39 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies.
The company announced the plan to shift to the U.S. on Feb. 19 at the same time as it unveiled earnings that widely missed analysts’ estimates.
Bédard told analysts last week that a unit of Daseke does business with the U.S. Department of Defense, “and because we are a foreign owner, that creates a little bit of issues for us.”
But he also suggested that being legally headquartered in the U.S. might help the company, which has a market capitalization of C$10.9 billion, gain inclusion into U.S. stock indexes. Brookfield Asset Management gave a similar motivation last year for moving its head office to New York from Toronto.
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