RTL Westcan LP, a bulk commodity hauler operating in Western Canada, has agreed to sell 10 industrial properties located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories to Edgefront Realty Corp for the equivalent of $68 million. The acquisition will occur in connection with the conversion of Edgefront into a real estate investment trust (REIT). Under the terms of the deal, RTL Westcan will own a major interest in the new REIT. Based in Edmonton, RTL Westcan has been a portfolio company of Canadian private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners since 2006.
10 min read · 08 November 2013
BlackBerry Ltd will pay its new interim CEO a base salary of $1 million, a bonus of up to twice that amount as well as stock awards potentially worth some $85 million, in the hopes of turning around Canada's most prominent technology company, reports Reuters. Chen was credited with turning around Sybase Inc in the late 1990s. Sybase, an enterprise software company, was eventually acquired by SAP AG in 2010. Update: Chen also worked for U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
2 min read · 08 November 2013
Shares in Merlin Entertainments jumped more than 12 percent in debut trade on the London stock market, to value the Madame Tussauds and amusement parks operator at around 3.5 billion pounds ($5.6 billion), sister news service Reuters reported.
3 min read · 08 November 2013
Healthcare conglomerate Danaher Corp has teamed up with Blackstone Group LP to bid for Johnson & Johnson’s diagnostics unit, which makes blood screening equipment and laboratory blood tests and could fetch more than $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, sister news service Reuters reported.
2 min read · 08 November 2013
Toronto-based renewable power investor Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (TSX: BEP.UN; NYSE: BEP) has agreed to acquire a further 50% interest in its 30 MW Malacha Hydro facility in California, and a 70 MW hydroelectric portfolio in Maine. The seller in the two undisclosed transactions, which are expected to close before the end of 2013, is energy-focused private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners. Brookfield Renewable Energy owns a variety of hydroelectric assets in Canada, the United States and Brazil.
3 min read · 07 November 2013
Toronto-based specialty financial services firm Difference Capital Financial has invested $5 million in BuildDirect.com Technologies Inc, an online supplier of home improvement products with its headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1999, BuildDirect has secured funding from other sources in past, including Canadian venture capital firms BDC Venture Capital and OMERS Ventures, an investment division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. BDC and OMERS invested a combined $20 million in the company in 2012.
4 min read · 07 November 2013
G. Cooper Equipment Rentals Ltd has agreed to acquire all of the shares of City Rentals Inc, a full-service construction equipment rental company, serving contractors in the Greater Toronto Area. The undisclosed transaction is expected to be completed by the end of November. The Toronto-based G. Cooper Equipment Rentals, which operates in the same sector niche as City Rentals, is a portfolio company of Canadian private equity firm SeaFort Capital. The Halifax-based SeaFort, which was launched last year, made a majority investment in the company in June 2013.
3 min read · 07 November 2013
Jennifer Morais, a funds commitment professional who worked at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, is joining TPG on the investor relations and fundraising team, according to four people familiar with the situation. Morais has worked at CPPIB since 2005. She was senior principal of funds and secondaries. It was not made clear why she left CPPIB as the institution declined to comment. Prior to CPPIB, Morais had worked at the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System.
2 min read · 07 November 2013
Nestle, the world’s largest food group, is selling the bulk of its Jenny Craig weight-loss business to a U.S. private equity firm, part of a trend among consumer goods firms to shed underperforming businesses in a faltering global economy, sister news service Reuters reported.
3 min read · 07 November 2013
BlackBerry Ltd's decision to accept a $1 billion cash injection from a group of investors led by Canadian financier Prem Watsa shocked other potential bidders for the smartphone maker and has left some investors crying foul, reports Reuters. With the investment deal, BlackBerry abruptly ended an auction process that many investors had hoped would have led to a sale of the company or some of its assets, ending a long decline in its fortunes as a public company. However, the deal with the Watsa-led group gives BlackBerry more time to come up with a new turnaround strategy and installs a respected industry executive, John Chen, to lead the charge.
4 min read · 07 November 2013
