Canadian auto billionaire’s fortune doubles despite U.S. tariffs

Linda Hasenfratz, chairman and chief executive officer of Linamar Corporation, speaks during the International Economic Forum Of The Americas (IEFA) Conference of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on July 13, 2022. Photo by Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg

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The majority of Hasenfratz’ net worth is concentrated in Linamar Corp., the auto parts and industrial equipment manufacturer her father founded and she’s run for more than two decades. After the first round of tariffs was announced last year — including levies on autos specifically — Linamar’s stock plunged and her fortune dipped to around US$800 million.

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But now Linamar’s shares have rebounded to near record highs, and Hasenfratz’ net worth has hit US$1.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. These changing fortunes may point to both a limit to Trump’s ongoing trade assault on Canada, and a potential way forward for the country’s beleaguered manufacturers.

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“Tariffs are very much a short-term problem,” Hasenfratz, 60, who is Linamar’s executive chair, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg Television. “The vast majority of our business, there’s absolutely no tariff.”

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Shares of the Guelph, Ontario-based company have climbed about 27 per cent this year in Toronto — outpacing the 16 per cent advance of the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index — despite a one-day dip on Thursday after reporting second-quarter earnings that fell short of analysts’ estimates.

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Hasenfratz didn’t respond to a request for comment about her net worth or the company’s performance.

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Tariff free

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Key to Linamar’s success over the last year has been that auto parts are exempt from the 25 per cent tariff applied to assembled vehicles, so long as the parts are compliant with the existing trade deal between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. That means products that account for more than 60 per cent of Linamar’s earnings are sold tariff free.

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While Trump declined this year to renew that existing trade deal, it remains in place for another 10 years. The new round of 50 per cent tariffs Trump is currently threatening against a range of other Canadian goods also leave auto parts out.

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While the U.S. administration has been explicit in its hopes to reshore Canada’s vehicle assembly plants, doing the same with Canada’s much bigger parts manufacturing industry would be costly for both U.S. car makers and consumers.

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“On the parts production side I see it very hard for that to be displaced wholesale from Canada to the U.S.,” said Jonathan Goldman, a Bank of Nova Scotia analyst who has a hold equivalent on Linamar’s stock. “Even if somebody else did make it you can’t just go across the street and get it. You have to redesign the entire car cause it all works together.”

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With the tariff threat to its business diminishing, Linamar has been able to turn the disruption to its advantage. It has made three acquisitions in recent years, two in Germany and one in the U.S., from companies thrown into distress by the industry’s broader upheaval. That’s added some technological capabilities to Linamar’s product portfolio, while helping boost sales to a record in the most recent quarter.