State-controlled Finnish utility Fortum has agreed to sell its local power distribution grid to a consortium of institutional investors led by First State Investments and Borealis Infrastructure for 2.55 billion euros ($3.5 billion), reports Reuters. The deal is the latest in a series of regulated distribution network sales made by large energy firms wanting to cut debt and focus on their power generation businesses instead. First State, an asset management business owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Borealis Infrastructure, owned by Canadian pension fund OMERS, both have a 40 percent stake in the buying consortium called Suomi Power Networks.
2 min read · 12 December 2013
Some creditors of Freedom Group Inc, maker of the Bushmaster rifle used in the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre, are willing to offer the company more debt, despite the fact many of its private equity fund investors want out, sister news service Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp reported.
3 min read · 12 December 2013
Advantage Rent A Car said it picked Canadian private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group Inc to buy its assets in bankruptcy proceedings and reached a deal with Hertz Global Holdings Inc that allows Advantage to continue using a leased vehicle fleet, reports Reuters. Advantage had to file for bankruptcy protection last month after Hertz terminated their vehicle lease agreements, saying Advantage had failed to make some payments on 24,000 vehicles. The settlement also gives Catalyst an option to buy the leased vehicles from Hertz, which will make a $2.8 million payment to Catalyst once it completes its purchase of Advantage.
2 min read · 11 December 2013
Hilton Worldwide Inc, the world’s largest hotel operator, raised roughly $2.26 billion in its IPO, returning to the public markets some six years after Blackstone Group LP took it private in one of the largest deals of the leveraged buyout boom, sister news service Reuters reported.
2 min read · 11 December 2013
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has taken a 15% interest in ORPEA S.A., a Paris, France-based provider of skilled nursing, post-acute care, rehabilitation and psychiatric services. CPPIB acquired 7,952,718 shares from Dr. Jean-Claude Marian, founder and chairman of ORPEA, and from Santé Finance et Investissement, at a price of €40.34 per share, representing an investment of €320.8 million. CPPIB has also agreed to underwrite a primary share capital increase of up to €100 million to help accelerate the company's international growth program. Founded in 1989, ORPEA has a network of healthcare facilities across Europe.
3 min read · 11 December 2013
Canadian department store operator Hudson's Bay Co reported a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit due to higher expenses, but same-store sales at its Lord & Taylor chain in the United States returned to growth, reports Reuters. The company's net loss widened to C$124.2 million, or C$1.04 per share, in the quarter ended Nov. 2 from C$14.4 million, or 14 Canadian cents per share, a year earlier, hurt mainly by the cost of buying U.S. retailer Saks Inc. Hudson's Bay, which is backed by U.S. private equity firm NRDC Equity Partners, completed its $2.4 billion acquisition of Saks last month.
1 min read · 11 December 2013
Constellation Software Inc (TSX: CSU), which acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses, has bought for an undisclosed sum ASA Automotive Systems LLC, a Merrimack, New Hampshire-based supplier of on-premise and cloud-based software products for tire dealers, auto repair shops, and re-treaders. The deal was done through the company's subsidiary, Vela Operating Group. The Toronto-based Constellation is a portfolio company of OMERS Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
2 min read · 11 December 2013
A bidding war for Australia's Commonwealth Property Office Fund escalated after Dexus Property Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board hiked their joint offer - a move expected to prompt a higher bid from a rival suitor, reports Reuters. The latest cash and stock offer values CPA, as the fund is known, at A$3 billion ($2.7 billion) and represents a 2.6 percent premium over a bid from rival property investor GPT Group, Dexus said.
2 min read · 11 December 2013
Kensington Power Income Fund has made an undisclosed investment for the purchase of Crowsnest Pass Power Plant, a heat recovery plant located in Sparwood, British Columbia, from Mistral Power Inc. Mistral Power is a developer of green energy and co-generation opportunities for Calgary-based Mistral Energy Inc, which has been a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Riverstone Holdings since Jul. 2010. With the deal's closing this month, Kensington owns all or part of six different power plants located in Western Canada. Kensington Power Income Fund is managed by Toronto-based alternative assets manager Kensington Capital Partners.
3 min read · 11 December 2013
Canadian mid-market private equity firm Fulcrum Capital Partners has completed its previously-announced sale of Alumicor Ltd, a Toronto-based finisher and fabricator of aluminum frames for window, storefront, entrance and curtainwall products, to Apogee Enterprises Inc (Nasdaq: APOG). The price tag was approximately $54 million. Alumicor was acquired by Fulcrum in July 2007. Earlier in 2013, Fulcrum sold another portfolio company, Pompano Beach, Florida-based Qzina Specialty Foods North America, for US$32.7 million.
2 min read · 11 December 2013
