Montréal-based pension fund manager the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has acquired a a 26.7 percent investment stake in the Port of Brisbane in Australia's Queensland. The seller was New York-based private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners. No financial terms were disclosed for the transaction, which is expected to to be completed by December 18, 2013. The Port of Brisbane is Australia's third-largest container port.
2 min read · 29 November 2013
DHX Media Ltd (TSX: DHX) has agreed to acquire Family, the most-viewed children's channel in Canada, and three Disney-branded channels from Bell Media for around $170 million. The company said the purchase price is expected to be financed with a credit facility and cash on hand. The deal, which follows DHW Media's purchase of Ragdoll Worldwide Ltd in September, is expected to be completed in 2014. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based DHX Media, which is focused on TV production and distribution, interactive content and entertainment licensing, became a portfolio company of Canadian buyout firms Birch Hill Equity Partners and OMERS Private Equity when it bought Cookie Jar Group last year. Cookie Jar had been backed by Birch Hill and OMERS since 2004.
6 min read · 29 November 2013
TriWest Capital Partners, a Calgary-based mid-market private equity firm, has acquired a majority position in Colter Energy Services Inc and Colter Production Testing Services Inc for an undisclosed sum. With headquarters in Okotoks, Alberta, the businesses together provide production testing equipment and services to the oil and gas industry in Western Canada and the Northern United States. Colter said the partnership with TriWest will help facilitate its strategic growth plans. The deal, which comes on the heels of TriWest's acquisition of Triple M Housing Ltd, is the third investment made to date by TriWest Capital Partners Fund IV, which was closed at $350 million in 2012.
2 min read · 29 November 2013
PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers, sold a roughly US$1.5 billion portfolio of private equity holdings around the end of the third quarter, according to three people with knowledge of the deal, sister publication peHUB reported. The portfolio included holdings in large buyout funds, including Apax Partners, according to one source.
1 min read · 27 November 2013
Mergers and acquisitions in Canada showed a continuing "sluggish tone" in the third quarter of the year, reports Crosbie & Company. The Financial Post Crosbie: Mergers & Acquisitions in Canada database found 205 transactions announced in this period, or the lowest number since the bottom of the market cycle in Q1 2009. On the other hand, deals values, totaling $49 billion in the third quarter, increased 21% year over year. This was due to few large transactions, particularly in the retail and real estate sectors. Crosbie managing director Colin Walker said that “strong value in the face of weak activity partly reflects the fact that that many transactions are getting done at good valuations.”
4 min read · 27 November 2013
The previously-announced sale of hosting and cloud provider iWeb Inc to U.S.-based Internap Network Services Corp (NASDAQ: INAP) for US$145 million has been completed. The seller was Novacap Technologies, a private equity fund managed by Longueuil, Québec-based Novacap, which took the Montréal-based iWeb private for $47 million in 2011. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec also participated in the 2011 deal. Novacap said Internap's acquisition of iWeb will allow both businesses to grow their market shares and service portfolios to offer a complete range of IaaS to companies at every stage, from start-ups to multinationals. Founded in 1996, iWeb currently serves 10,000 SMB customers worldwide.
3 min read · 27 November 2013
Electra Private Equity’s 20 investment team staff are each set to receive an average payout of about 3 million pounds ($4.85 million) following a year of gains for its portfolio, sister news service Reuters reported.
2 min read · 27 November 2013
GTCR took just four months to hit the $3.25 billion target of its eleventh fund, sister news service peHUB reported.
2 min read · 27 November 2013
Canadian pension fund manager the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has announced it will reduce its holdings in CGI Group Inc, a Montréal-based IT and business process services company. A total of 9.96 million shares will be sold at a price of $40.15 per share, generating close to $400 million in proceeds. Upon completion of the transaction, the Caisse will hold approximately 18.7% of the company's outstanding shares. In 2012, the Caisse made a $1 billion private equity investment in CGI to support the acquisition of British IT and management consultancy company Logica PLC.
5 min read · 27 November 2013
Canadian mid-market private equity firm Clairvest Group has made a US$28.5 million investment in Winters Bros. Waste Systems of CT LLC, a Danbury, Conn.-based solid waste collection, recycling and disposal company. The deal is being done in partnership with the company's principal shareholders, Joe and Sean Winters, who previously partnered with Clairvest at the time of its 2006 investment in the same business operating in Long Island, New York. The investment is Clairvest's fourth in the solid waste management industry, which is one of its core domain areas. The firm's co-CEO Jeff Parr was interviewed by peHUB Canada in June.
3 min read · 27 November 2013
