ATCO is a large Canadian holding company with nearly 7,000 employees. Its subsidiaries are diverse but most are in either the gas/electricity, construction, or logistics industries.
Subsidiaries
The ATCO Group of Companies includes the following subsidiaries: Canadian Utilities, with its subsidiaries:
ATCO Australia - Established in 2010. 'In July 2011, ATCO purchased the largest reticulated gas infrastructure in Western Australia through the acquisition of Western Australia Gas Networks. The $1.1 billion AUD purchase of what is now called ATCO Gas Australia, is one of the largest acquisitions in ATCO's history. ATCO Gas Australia is a gas distribution utility that serves the Perth metropolitan area and major towns and cities throughout the state of Western Australia. Its combined networks constitute approximately 13,100 km of natural gas pipelines connecting more than 650,000 customers... ATCO Australia also includes ATCO Power Australia, which has three power stations operating in Brisbane, Adelaide and Karratha. In January 2011, these plants were transferred from ATCO Power, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which operates 15 power generating facilities in Canada and the United Kingdom. While not part of ATCO Australia, ATCO Structures & Logistics is an important part of ATCO's Australian operations with three manufacturing facilities and five office locations in the country.'
ATCO was founded in 1947, by S. Don Southern who gave a minority stake to his son Ron Southern, under the name Alberta Trailer Hire, renting fifteen utility trailers in the Calgary area. As the company's operations grew, they also began to sell trailers, first becoming the Alberta Trailer Company, then ATCO. By the early 1960s, the company had operations across North America and in Australia. ATCO Industries Ltd. became a public company in March 1968, with shares traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. During the 1970s, the company expanded into the natural gas and petroleum industries, and into the electricity industry in the 1980s. In 2004, with the deregulation of the retail energy industry in Alberta, ATCO sold the retail operations of ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric to Direct Energy Marketing Ltd. while ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric still operated as "distributors". As part of the sale to DEML, DEML contracted call center and billing services from ATCO I-Tek. In 2016, ATCO re-entered the retail energy industry in Alberta as ATCOenergy. In 2018, ATCO acquired 40% of the shares in Neltume Ports, a South American port terminal operator.
