Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Warburg Pincus LLC and Cinven Ltd are weighing bids for PRA International, a clinical research group, which is for sale and could fetch as much as $1.3 billion, several people familiar with the matter told sister news service Reuters.
2 min read · 05 June 2013
TELUS Ventures, the strategic venture capital investment arm of Canadian telecommunications company TELUS Corp., has made an undisclosed investment in Vigilent Corp., a private, San Francisco-based company that creates energy management systems for cooling buildings with electronic equipment. The company is also backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners.
4 min read · 05 June 2013
Vancouver's Visier Inc., which provides cloud-based workforce analytics for business managers and HR professionals, has named Steve Bamberger, who was formerly with Netformx and Oracle, as the company's chief revenue officer. Bamberger will lead Visier's sales and business development initiatives. Visier recently completed a $15 million Series B financing round led by U.S. venture capital firm Summit Partners and with the participation of existing investor Foundation Capital.
2 min read · 05 June 2013
Ray Investment, the controlling shareholder in Rexel SA, has sold a 10 percent stake in the French electrical equipment supplier for 487.54 million euros ($635 million), as Ray’s private equity owners further reduce their stakes.
1 min read · 05 June 2013
Ottawa, Ontario-based Halogen Software Inc. (TSX: HGN) a provider of cloud-based talent management products, announced the exercise of an over-allotment option pertaining to the company's initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which was completed in May. Including the exercise of the over-allotment option, gross proceeds of the offering to Halogen and U.S.-based venture capital backer JMI Equity now total approximately $63.5 million.
2 min read · 04 June 2013
U.S. private equity firm The Blackstone Group might be a bidder for U.K.-based Rio Tinto PLC's majority stake in Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), reports Reuters. Sources "with knowledge of the situation" said Rio Tinto values the Montréal-based IOC, an iron ore producer and supplier of iron ore pellets and concentrate, at around US$8 billion, and is seeking between US$3.5 billion and US$4 billion for its equity position. Another potential bidder may be Glencore Xstrata PLC, the Switzerland-based company formed via a merger earlier this year.
1 min read · 04 June 2013
N. Harris Computer Corp., a subsidiary of Toronto software company Constellation Software Inc., has acquired Reston, Virginia-based QuadraMed Corp., a provider of clinical, financial, and health information management software solutions for hospitals and hospital networks. The seller in the undisclosed deal was U.S. private equity firm Francisco Partners, which bought QuadraMed in 2010. Constellation is a portfolio investment of OMERS Private Equity, which has backed the company since 2000.
3 min read · 04 June 2013
Canadian private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group welcomed recent federal government decisions impacting Toronto's Mobilicity, a.k.a. Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., that "enforce" 2008 policy "providing restrictions on ASW spectrum transfers prior to April 2014", and encourage "competition and consumer choice" in Canada's wireless sector. Catalyst, which is Mobilicity's largest debt holder, said it is "very supportive" of policy and actions that promote "at least four wireless providers in every region of the country."
2 min read · 04 June 2013
Kevin Kimsa, who co-founded Toronto-based e-commerce platform AudienceView Ticketing Inc. and software company Solect Technology Group, has joined OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. Kisma will assume the role of venture partner, focused on supporting early- and later-stage technology portfolio companies.
2 min read · 04 June 2013
TELUS Corp. has referred to the federal government's recent decision not to approve its proposed acquisition of Mobilicity, a.k.a. Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., for $380 million as "unfortunate." In an official response, TELUS said the decision has now created "considerable uncertainty" for Mobilicity's customers, employees and debt holders "due to the pressing financial challenges facing the company." The Toronto-based mobile service provider has been backed by U.S. private equity firm Quadrangle Capital Partners since 2008. .
2 min read · 04 June 2013
