Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay Co (TSX: HBC) has reported financial results for the second quarter of 2014, showing sales totaling $1.77 billion, which reflect an increase of close to 87 percent from $948 million the year before. The business attributed sales growth, as well as year-over-year gains in gross profits, primarily to the inclusion of New York-based luxury retailer Saks Inc, which it acquired last November in a deal valued at US$2.9 billion. Hudson's Bay is a portfolio investment of U.S. private equity firm NRDC Equity Partners.
10 min read · 12 September 2014
Luminator Technology Group (LTG), a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Audax Group, has acquired Axion Technologies Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Axion, a designer, manufacturer and supplier of passenger information. communication and closed circuit television systems to the transit industry, has its headquarters in La Pocatière, Québec. Based in Plano, Texas, LTD is a provider of passenger information systems for public transit and aerospace markets. It was bought by Audax from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners earlier this year. Axion received an investment from private equity and venture capital firm Fondaction CSN in 2008.
2 min read · 12 September 2014
Canadian real estate private equity firm Forgestone Capital Management has become a partner in the Tsawwassen Commons retail centre, a new shopping destination in British Columbia's Lower Mainland. Forgestone acquired a 50 percent interest in the project, joining GVest Private Equity LP, an affiliate of Gracorp Capital Advisors, as an equal partner. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed. Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is currently focused on the adjacent Tsawwassen Mills project. Both projects will be completed in 2016.
3 min read · 12 September 2014
CVC Credit Partners, the London-based credit arm of CVC Capital Partners, has had preliminary discussions with at least one investor about launching a fund earmarked to buy stressed-but-performing loans on the books of European banks.
3 min read · 12 September 2014
Shareholders of Seven Generations Energy Ltd have approved a two-for-one share split of the the company's Class A common shares. The plan, which is intended to make shares more affordable for employees and other small investors, is said to be linked to a forthcoming initial public offering. A recent report by The Globe and Mail indicated that the Calgary-based oil and gas company now may be aiming to raise up to $1 billion. Founded in 2008, Seven Generations is backed by ARC Financial Corp, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), KERN Partners, Natural Gas Partners and ZBI Ventures.
3 min read · 11 September 2014
First West Capital, the mezzanine and subordinated debt lending arm of Canadian credit union First West Credit Union, has provided $1 million in expansion funding to ESPRO Inc. Based in Vancouver, ESPRO is a coffee and tea equipment specialist. The partnership with First West will focus on accelerating the availability of the company's products, improving the range of brewing methods, developing markets and introducing new products. ESPRO was founded in 2004 by engineers Bruce Constantine and Chris McLean.
4 min read · 11 September 2014
Calgary's Jupiter Resources Inc, a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management, has proposed a private offering of US$1.125 billion in senior notes to help fund its purchase of Encana Corp's Bighorn assets. Jupiter announced in June that it planned to pay Encana $2 billion to acquire the Bighorn natural gas properties in the Alberta Deep Basin. The unsecured notes ultimately will be guaranteed through an expected $1.5 billion senior secured reserve-based revolving credit facility that Jupiter intends to enter into near the close of the Bighorn deal. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
4 min read · 11 September 2014
U.S. regulators have charged 34 companies, corporate executives and major shareholders in a first-of-its-kind sweep into violations of federal laws that require insiders to disclose promptly their stock holdings and trades. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that the defendants included well-known companies such as Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide Inc, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc, Royal Bank of Scotland and Sankaty Advisors LLC, a unit of the private equity firm Bain Capital.
3 min read · 11 September 2014
The State of Connecticut Office of the Treasurer is planning to issue a request for proposals for a private investment fund consultant in November, according to state documents released to Buyouts.
2 min read · 11 September 2014
Canadian mid-market private equity firm EdgeStone Capital Partners is restructuring two funds to give existing investors the option of cashing out or rolling their interests into a new vehicle, three people with knowledge of the situation told peHUB. The deal is valued at around US$300 million, one of the sources said. UBS is running the process, according to two of the sources, both of whom are secondary market professionals.
3 min read · 11 September 2014
