Brad Meikle

Blackstone-backed Hilton to begin marketing $3.25 bln high-yield bond on Thursday

Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide will begin marketing a $3.25 billion high-yield bond on Thursday as part of a multi-billion refinancing ahead of its initial public offering, one of the banks managing the deal said on Wednesday, sister publication IFR reported.

SD Tech Fund invests $14.7 mln in four Canadian cleantech companies

SD Tech Fund, a venture capital fund sponsored by Sustainable Development Technology Canada, has invested $14.7 million to commercialize clean technologies developed by four companies. These companies are: Macroteck, a specialist in factory exhaust scrubbing; Vive Crop Production, which is focused on crop protection technology; Switchable Solutions, a developer of technology to recover bitumen from ore, and; Solantro Semiconductor, a provider of scalable renewable energy nanogrids. SD Tech Fund has to date committed $598 million to 246 companies and projects.

MaRS' crowdfunding platform SVX goes live

SVX, a crowdfunding portal that has been granted a two-year approval by the Ontario Securities Commission, launches officially on the Toronto Stock Exchange on September 19. Designed to facilitate “impact investing," or the financing of early-stage companies, nonprofits and other organizations that aim to solve social and environmental challenges, the platform is sponsored by innovation hub MaRS Discovery District. SVX was profiled by peHUB Canada in July.

Golden Venture Partners joins in $13.5 mln Series B funding of Yesware

Boston, Mass.-based Yesware, an e-mail productivity service for salespeople, has obtained US$13.5 million in a Series B financing led by Battery Ventures. The company's existing investors, including Toronto-based early-stage venture capital firm Golden Venture Partners, as well as Google Ventures, Foundry Group and IDG Ventures, joined in the round. Raising US$18.5 million to date, Yesware will utilize its newest funding to accelerate its continued growth and platform expansion efforts.

Mitsubishi Tanabe completes $357 mln purchase of Medicago

Osaka, Japan-based Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp has completed its previously announced acquisition of vaccines and therapeutic proteins developer Medicago Inc (TSX: MDG) for $357 million. The Québec City-based company's shares will be de-listed from trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange this week. Medicago has since the 1990's been backed by Canadian venture capital firms, including the Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec FTQ and Innovatech, and went public in 2006.

Ontario Teachers puts $70 mln to work in Brazil's Dafiti Group

Brazilian online fashion retailer Dafiti Group has secured funding totaling US$70 million from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, helping the company to fulfill its goal of providing fashion, lifestyle and sports products in Latin America. Dafiti, which was established two years ago, has attracted US$255 million in financing from such investors as JP Morgan and Quadrant Capital Advisors.

Apollo, TPG-backed Caesars preps jumbo loan, high-yield bond refinancing

Heavily-indebted Caesars Entertainment announced plans on Wednesday to sell $1.85 billion of high-yield bonds, as it looks to tackle the multi-billion debt pile that it has been saddled with since its leveraged buyout in 2008, sister publication IFR reported.

Pattern and Samsung wrap up financing of Grand Renewable Wind Project

Samsung Renewable Energy Inc. and Pattern Energy Group LP have completed the financing for the 150 megawatt Grand Renewable Wind Project in Haldimand County, Ontario. Utilizing wind turbine blades and towers, the project will produce clean energy equal to the needs of approximately 50,000 Ontario homes each year. Construction is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2014. Pattern Energy, which was formed in 2009, is backed by U.S. private equity firm Riverstone Holdings.

Waterton to buy Nevada Midas operation from Newmont Mining

Denver, Colorado-based gold producer Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM), has agreed to sell the company's Midas underground mine operation in Nevada to Canadian private equity firm Waterton Global Resource Management. The financial terms of the transaction were not published. The Toronto-based Waterton, which was recently reported by peHUB as having already raised US$300 million for its second US$750 million mining and metals fund, bought Nevada's Hollister gold mine and the Esmeralda Mill from Great Basin Gold Ltd. in June.

Relay Ventures commits to new $11 mln financing of PubNub

San Francisco-based PubNub, a provider of cloud infrastructure and building blocks for real-time apps that scale globally, announced that it has raised US$11 million in a Series B funding round. The deal was led by Scale Venture Partners and included participation from Canadian venture capital firm Relay Ventures and TiE Angels, which are existing investors. PubNub, which has to date raised US$15.5 million, will use proceeds from the new investment to expand worldwide sales and marketing.