About Us

The history of Armco Capital began with the immigration of George Sr and his family to Canada. Once here, he founded what is now known as Armco Capital in 1982. Our group of companies started small, buying assets from auctions/banks in foreclosures and in-turn selling them to the customers. The capital gained was used to build an apartment building in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From here, our core business of land development began; purchasing raw land, adding services, and creating a community where homebuilders would purchase lots. This continues to be a core aspect of our business to this day.

In 1998 we were awarded a contract to build and operate 13 schools in a public-private partnership with the Government of Nova Scotia. From this, a relationship was developed with several investment bankers opening the door to a new market of public companies trading at discounts to their asset values. We began our more concentrated foray into the public markets in the early 2000s, taking an activist approach to turn around underperforming companies.

We began identifying companies that were mispriced or had fallen out of favour in the market. By purchasing a significant position in these companies, we sought effective control of the boards, often replacing the management teams. Through this process, we were able to impose our core tenets of business, unlocking value for not only ourselves but all other shareholders. The company Clarke Inc (CKI.TO) was one of these businesses, and to this day, it remains our primary investment vehicle for making other activist investments. Clarke interests now include a large hospitality division represented by 27 hotels, a ferry operation in Quebec, a significant investment book of investments, as well as running one of the most successful pension funds in Canada.

After the recession of 2008, new opportunities arose in the US, allowing us to diversify geographically outside of Canada. With all of our deals being purchased from banks, we moved into Florida. Here, we purchased several fractured condo deals as well as land for development across 7 cities. Our reputation from these deals led us to opportunities in North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia, where we purchased land ranging from raw land to finished lots, resulting in us being the 4th largest land owner in the Greater Atlanta Area.

In 2008, we also first ventured into Montreal, purchasing a piece of land from bankruptcy which we used to develop close to 1300 apartments and condos on the site. Montreal is now one of our largest offices, and we are actively growing throughout Quebec.

Another avenue we have recently ventured into is the technology and cyber security space through Creative Destruction Lab in a venture capital format as well as through private equity vehicles.

With operations and investments across Canada and in the United States, we have a close to even split of assets between the two countries.