Steve Yuzpe, president and CEO of Sprott Resource Corp (TSX: SCP), said he sees "exceptional investment opportunities" in resource sectors in the upcoming year, in part due to a roughly 65% decline in valuations since 2011. For this reason, the private equity firm plans to this year accelerate new capital deployment through increased investment activity and collaboration with the Sprott Group of Companies, and add expertise to its core investment team. Sprott Resource estimated it had a net asset value of up to $370 million at the end of last year. The firm also announced that in Dec. 2013 it committed $5 million for a royalty interest in a number of wells to be drilled by a Calgary-based company that explores, develops and produces oil and natural gas in northwestern Alberta.
8 min read · 14 January 2014
The private equity division of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management has made a secondary offering of part of its investment in Western Forest Products Inc (TSX:WEF), a woodland operator and lumber producer. Under the terms of the offering, non-voting and common shares will be sold at a price of $1.98 per share. Following the deal's closing, Brookfield will hold 44% of issued and outstanding common shares in the business. The Vancouver-based WEF was formed in 2004 as a result of Brookfield's acquisition of the bankrupt Doman Industries Ltd. Brookfield received gross proceeds of $66.7 million upon completion of a 2013 sale of company shares.
5 min read · 14 January 2014
French private equity firm PAI Partners has raised nearly half of its planned 3 billion euro ($4.1 billion) buyout fund after 10 months on the road, a source familiar with the matter told sister news service Reuters.
2 min read · 14 January 2014
Seibu Holdings Inc and top shareholder Cerberus Capital Management LP will seek to relist the Japanese company in the coming months, sources said, allowing the U.S. investor to cash out most of its $1 billion-plus investment and ending a spat seen as a test of Japan’s openness to foreign capital, sister news service Reuters reported.
3 min read · 14 January 2014
U.S. leveraged loan issuance may hit $1 trillion in 2014, the second-highest level on record, following the all-time high $1.14 trillion issued in 2013, according to loan market participants surveyed in sister news service Thomson Reuters LPC’s Quarterly Lender Survey.
3 min read · 13 January 2014
Bain Capital and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec have agreed to sell more of their holdings in Valcourt, Québec-based Bombardier Recreational Products Inc (BRP, TSX: DOO). Through a secondary offering, Bain and the Caisse will dispose of 8.7 million subordinate voting shares in the company, generating gross proceeds of about $261 million. Following the close of the transaction at the end of January, Bain will hold 27.8% of issued and outstanding shares, while the Caisse will hold 5.3%. The two investors completed a similar $223 million sale in Oct. 2013. BRP, which develops, manufactures and distributes power-sports vehicles, was acquired by Bain, the Caisse and members of the Bombardier family in 2003. The company completed an initial public offering in May 2013.
4 min read · 13 January 2014
Assiniboia Farmland LP has announced the close of the previously-announced sale of its farmland assets portfolio to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $128 million. The portfolio, which will continue to be managed by the existing management team, includes about 115,000 acres of farmland located throughout Saskatchewan. CPPIB in 2012 launched its agriculture investment program, which will initially focus on farmland opportunities in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Founded in 2005, Assiniboia Farmland LP is a Regina, Sask.-based farmland investment fund.
3 min read · 13 January 2014
Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) launched an unsolicited cash-and-stock bid to acquire smaller rival Osisko Mining Corp (OSK.TO) for C$2.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) on Monday, in a move to gain control of Osisko's Malartic gold mine in Quebec, reports Reuters. The takeover bid is the Canadian gold sector's first major attempt at a merger and acquisition deal in nearly a year. Miners stung by a 25 percent drop in the price of gold over the last 12 months have focused on cutting costs and slowing down work on growth projects. Last year, Osisko Mining completed renegotiation of long-term debt facility agreements totaling $225 million. The deal involved CPPIB Credit Investments, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Ressources Québec, a subsidiary of Investissement Québec.
3 min read · 13 January 2014
Music services specialist Stingray Digital Group has agreed to buy DMX Media, the Latin American residential digital music services company owned by Austin, Texas-based Mood Media Corp (TSX: MM) (LSE AIM: MM), for $16.3 million. According to Stingray, the acquisition is the second largest it has completed to date, and increases its global reach to over 100 million subscribers in 113 countries. The Montréal-based company, which produces music and video content on multiple platforms, including digital TV, IPTV, the Internet, mobile apps and game consoles, is a portfolio investment of private equity firm Novacap Technologies, profiled by peHUB Canada in Dec. 2013, and technology investor Telesystem. Stingray ranked among the top 15 Canadian winners of last year’s Deloitte Technology Fast 50™.
3 min read · 13 January 2014
1 min read · 13 January 2014
