The private equity group of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management has completed its previously-announced secondary offering of part of its investment in Western Forest Products Inc (TSX: WEF), a woodland operator and lumber producer. After selling a mix of non-voting and common shares at a price of $1.98 per share, Brookfield generated aggregate gross proceeds of over $91 million. With the close of the secondary transaction, Brookfield continued to hold 42% of issued and outstanding common shares in the business. The Vancouver-based Western Forest Products was established in 2004 as a result of Brookfield's acquisition of the bankrupt Doman Industries Ltd.
4 min read · 03 February 2014
Denmark's Dong Energy has sold half of its 50 percent stake in the world's largest offshore wind farm located in Britain to Canada's the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec for 644 million pounds (US$1.1 billion), the two sides said on Friday. The deal reduces Dong's stake to 25 percent and leaves Germany's E.ON as the project's largest shareholder with 30 percent. The 630-megawatt London Array offshore windfarm is located 20 kilometres off the coast of Kent and was officially opened in July 2013. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014.
1 min read · 03 February 2014
OMERS Private Equity, an investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, has completed its sale of portfolio company Maxxam Analytics International Corp to France's Bureau Veritas SA for $650 million. The Mississauga, Ont.-based Maxxam Analytics, which provides analytical laboratory services to the energy, environmental, food and DNA industries, was acquired for a non-disclosed amount by OMERS in Sept. 2008. According to OMERS, the company has since then shown revenue growth of 80%, and strengthened its market position through organic expansion and acquisitions. OMERS also said that its three PE-backed exits in 2013 resulted in a combined return in excess of 40% and a combined multiple-of-money in excess of 4.0x.
3 min read · 03 February 2014
Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP said it has agreed to acquire a strategic minority stake in privately held Vogue International, the maker of the Organix Hair Care product line, sister news service Reuters reported.
1 min read · 03 February 2014
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating banks, private equity firms and hedge funds that may have violated anti-bribery laws in their dealings with Libya’s government-run investment fund, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
1 min read · 03 February 2014
In the coming weeks, we'll see the wrap-up of Louisiana-Pacific’s buy of Ainsworth Lumber (TSX: ANS), a Vancouver-based manufacturer of homebuilding products. Announced in Sept. 2013, the US$1.1 billion acquisition will once closed be the largest private equity exit from a Canadian-based company in nearly a year. That’ll be a feather in the cap for the PE team at Toronto-based alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) (TSX: BAM.A) (Euronext: BAMA), as Brookfield Capital Partners II is Ainsworth's majority owner. As it turns out, the deal was only one of a number of headline-grabbing events that characterized Brookfield’s market activity in 2013.
4 min read · 03 February 2014
Borealis Infrastructure, an investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), has entered into a deal to increase its ownership in nuclear generating facility Bruce Power. Borealis has agreed to pay $450 million to acquire the 31.6 percent interest currently held in part of the facility by Cameco Corp (TSX:CCO). Upon completion of the purchase, Borealis will own a 56.1 percent share. Other Bruce Power investors, including TransCanada Corp, the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals will now have the opportunity to exercise their options related to taking additional ownership. Bruce Power's site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors. The facility was responsible for over 30 per cent of the electricity in the province in 2013.
3 min read · 31 January 2014
Mountain resorts operator Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc raised about US$188 million in an initial public offering after its shares were priced at US$12, a market source told Reuters. The company, controlled by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC, priced its IPO of 15.62 million shares significantly below its expected price range of US$15-US$17 per share. Out of the total offering, Intrawest is offering 3.12 million shares while Fortress is selling the rest. After the offering, Fortress's stake would drop to about 65 percent. Denver-based Intrawest, the largest heli-skiing adventure operator in the world, was taken private by Fortress in 2006 for about US$2.8 billion, including debt. The company's Canadian offices are in Vancouver and Banff, Alberta.
1 min read · 31 January 2014
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said on Friday it will buy a 10.4 percent stake in Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TgP) from Peruvian engineering and construction firm Graña y Montero, for about US$200 million. TgP is the largest transporter of natural gas and natural gas liquids in Peru, Toronto-based CPPIB said. Its customers include the largest power generators, natural gas distributors and industrial companies in the country.
1 min read · 31 January 2014
India's Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, a unit of diversified Aditya Birla Group, has agreed to sell its business process outsourcing unit Minacs to a group of investors for US$260 million. Minacs has a significant market presence in Canada, and an office in Toronto. The group of investors is led by private equity firms Capital Square Partners (CSP) and CX Partners (CXP), the company said in a statement on Friday, adding the deal is expected to be closed in two to three months. Minacs was previously a portfolio investment of Canadian private equity firm ReichmannHauer Capital Partners. The firm led the acquisition of Minacs, a TSX listed company, in 2006 and subsequently invested in TransWorks Information Services Ltd, an Indian BPO company that merged with Minacs.
1 min read · 31 January 2014
