The sale of Toronto-based wireless carrier Public Mobile Inc. for an undisclosed sum to Thomvest Seed Capital and Cartesian Capital provided exit opportunities to a number of Canadian and U.S. private equity and venture capital firms. Around the time of the company's founding in 2008, its backers included Charles River Ventures, Columbia Capital, Ignition Partners, M/C Venture Partners, Rho Canada Ventures, Rho Ventures, and alternative assets manager Kensington Capital Partners. OMERS Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, also took a stake in the company in 2009.
3 min read · 07 June 2013
You’ll be hard pressed to make just a 1 percent commitment to your fund these days, even though that used to be fairly standard, according to the Reuters PE/VC Partnership Agreements Study 2012-2013.
1 min read · 07 June 2013
The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital have hopped onto the dividend train as the Weather Company plans to pay a $600 million dividend to its shareholders, sister website peHUB reported.
2 min read · 06 June 2013
Kitchener, Ontario-based Thalmic Labs Inc., a developer of gesture control and wearable technology, has closed a $14.5 million Series A financing round led by U.S. venture capital firms Spark Capital and Intel Capital. Other deal participants included Formation 8, First Round Capital and FundersClub. The funding will be used by the startup company to fuel growth and further advance its flagship product MYO and other technologies.
3 min read · 05 June 2013
The acquisition of Vancouver-based Layer 7 Technologies Inc., a provider of application programming interface management and security, by CA Technologies Inc. of Islandia, New York, has been completed.The deal's value has been estimated at approximately $180 million. Founded in 2002, Layer 7 was backed by BDC Venture Capital, GrowthWorks and Shoreline Venture Management.
2 min read · 05 June 2013
The Carlyle Group LP and The Blackstone Group LP as well as Indian outsourcers L&T Infotech and Tech Mahindra Ltd, are lining up bids for Hewlett-Packard Co’s $1 billion stake in India’s MphasiS Ltd, several sources involved in the process told sister news service Reuters. Buyout firms Advent International and Bain Capital LLC are also in talks to bid for HP’s 60.5 percent stake in MphasiS, an IT services exporter, said the sources, who declined to be named as details of a potential deal are not yet public.
3 min read · 05 June 2013
Anthony Lacavera, founder and current chairman and CEO of Wind Mobile Canada Inc., has expressed an interest in buying Mobilicity, a.k.a. Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., after the federal government blocked the mobile service provider's acquisition by TELUS Corp., reports Reuters. Lacavera, who is transferring his voting interest in Wind Mobile to Vimpelcom Ltd. but maintains a minority stake, said he sees "a significant fourth national carrier" in the combination of the two companies. Mobilicity is backed by U.S. private equity firm Quadrangle Capital Partners.
1 min read · 05 June 2013
Montréal and New York City-based startup Breather Inc., a provider of on-demand space for relaxation and other purposes in a network of rooms opened by phone, has secured $1.5 million in seed-stage financing, reports TechVibes. The deal was led by Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Real Ventures, with the participation of a number of other investors, including Mike Walsh of micro-venture capital firm Structure Capital, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
1 min read · 05 June 2013
Global Tubing LLC, a Dayton, Texas-based maker of coiled tubing, has agreed to be acquired jointly by Houston's Forum Energy Technologies Inc. (FET), a provider of technologies and applied products to the energy industry, and U.S. private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners. Upon completion of the undisclosed deal, Quantum and FET will hold an equal interest in the company. Canadian energy-focused private equity firm ARC Financial Corp., Global Tubing's majority investor, is the seller.
3 min read · 05 June 2013
New York-based private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice is considering buying and merging the office maintenance units of Balfour Beatty and Rentokil Initial, the Financial Times reported. Rentokil and CD&R are already holding talks on the plan, the newspaper reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.
1 min read · 05 June 2013
