Behind the Corporate Veil.

• Author: KANE, ROGER

Subsidiaries drive Native Regional Corporations

With the ranking of the state's leading 49 Alaskan-owned and -operated revenue producers complete, it is clear that Alaska Native Regional Corporations are Alaska's top revenue producers. Ten of the 13 regional corporations created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act found spots on Alaska Business Monthly's Top 49ers list for 2000, with their combined revenues totaling more than $1.99 billion.

While Alaska's Native Regional Corps. dominate the state's homegrownbusiness landscape, they are not the only Native-owned entities making their presence known with big dollar signs. In addition to the 10 regional corporations, there are four other Native-owned entities on the 49ers list. Those organizations posted $203 million in revenues which, when combined with the 10 regional corporations' revenues, nearly eclipses the money taken in by the remaining 35 companies on the list combined.

Native Regional Corporations wield tremendous economic power and they are likely to become more powerful in the coming years, as already successful subsidiaries mature and new alliances are forged.

While it is not true for all, most of the 13 regional corporations own a diverse mix of subsidiaries engaged in land and timber management, government contracting, telecommunications, mining or oil industry support, tourism, construction, wholesale distribution, or finance, real estate and investing.

Still other subsidiaries have become more specialized, finding niches in advanced materials technologies, railroad track component manufacturing and installation, vocational training and job placement, environmental consulting, oil spill response services or newspaper publishing.

As a follow-up to Alaska Business Monthly's September issue focusing on Alaska's Native Regional Corporations, this article will highlight some of the regional corporations' subsidiaries.

Arctic Slope Regional Corp.

Some of the most notable subsidiaries owned by Barrow-based Arctic Slope Regional Corp. include Houston Construction Co., Alaska Petroleum Contractors Inc., ASRC Aerospace, Puget Plastics Corp. and Petro Star Inc.

One of Arctic Slope Regional Corp.'s largest subsidiaries, Houston Contracting Co., has built more miles of arctic pipeline than any other contractor in the Western Hemisphere. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. selected HCC to build the first sub-sea pipeline in arctic Alaska. It also played a central role in the construction of...