Doug Pearce, the CEO and CIO of the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, helped introduce alternative investments into the institution's portfolio, and worked to grow that exposure through his career.
3 min read · 24 October 2013
Anyone familiar with the private equity sector knew that the first half of 2013 was going to be slow going for the M&A market. The increases in the capital gains rate that went into effect on January 1, 2013 created a compelling incentive to complete a sale or dividend recap by the end of 2012 or suffer paying higher taxes on the gain from those transactions.
3 min read · 23 October 2013
Hickory, N.C.-based CommScope, a telecom equipment provider backed by The Carlyle Group, plans to go public this week, selling 38.46 million shares at $18 to $21 each via lead underwriters J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and BofA Merrill Lynch. Of the shares sold, CommScope is offering 30.8 million shares.
1 min read · 23 October 2013
LX Ventures has named Bernd Petak president of the firm, effective immediately. Previously, Petak served as a strategy and operations consulting partner at Deloitte. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, LX Ventures acquires, integrates, and accelerates early stage high growth technology companies.
3 min read · 23 October 2013
A handful of buyout firms, including Cerberus Capital Management LP, are exploring a deal for all or part of supermarket chain Safeway Inc, according to people familiar with the matter, in what could potentially shape up to be one of the largest leveraged buyouts since the financial crisis, sister news service Reuters reported.
3 min read · 23 October 2013
Ottawa-based Openera Inc, a cross-cloud content manager, has been acquired by LiveQoS, formerly known as IPeak Networks, a provider of end-to-end QoS solutions for real-time applications. The financial details of the deal were not released. Openera has received seed-stage funding from BDC Venture Capital, Prolific Ventures and other investors since 2012, while LiveQoS, which is also based in Ottawa, is a portfolio company of MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund and other investors. The acquisition is intended to support LiveQoS' platform by leveraging Openera's e-mail and file document management and harvesting capabilities.
3 min read · 22 October 2013
Jonathan Bixby, co-founder and former CEO of Strangeloop Networks Inc, will become the new executive director of Canadian startup accelerator GrowLab on November 1st. Bixby led the Vancouver-based Stangeloop, a provider of web content optimization solutions, from the company's formation in 2006 until its acquisition by Radware Ltd in February 2013. Bixby replaces Mike Edwards, who was GrowLab's executive director for the past two years. GrowLab's portfolio companies have collectively raised over $7 million in funding to date.
2 min read · 22 October 2013
Waterloo, Ontario-based TribeHR, a provider of human capital management software solutions, has agreed to be acquired by NetSuite Inc (NYSE: N), a vendor of cloud computing business management software suites based in San Mateo, California. The acquisition price was not disclosed. Founded in 2009, TribeHR currently has more than 450 customers operating in over 50 countries. The company, which also has an office in Boston, Massachusetts, has been backed by Canadian venture capital firm Relay Ventures and U.S.-based Matrix Partners since 2011.
5 min read · 22 October 2013
The owners of broadcasting masts operator TDF are reviewing two bids for the group's French unit that fell short of their 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) expectations, said several sources involved with the process, reports Reuters. The sale is important for the owners of TDF - which serves clients including television, radio and mobile phone operators - as they need to raise money to help repay a 3.8 billion euro debt burden in order to avoid a costly restructuring with creditors, the sources said. A consortium led by Canadian pension fund PSP Investments has offered 3.5 billion euros for TDF France, making it to the second round of the auction.
3 min read · 22 October 2013
Arbor Investments said Tuesday that it has closed its recapitalization of PBF Pita Bread Factory. No financial terms were disclosed. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, PBF has been a maker of fresh and frozen baked goods since its founding in 1984. Arbor Investments is a Chicago-based private equity firm that invests in the food and beverage sector. Update: The recapitalization deal involving PBF is the firm's first transaction in the Canadian market.
3 min read · 22 October 2013
