Toronto-based Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced it achieved an overall 13.0% rate of return for the 2012 calendar year. Performance was led by Teachers' equities portfolio which, including private equity investments, returned 14.2%. Total pension plan assets consequently increased from C$117.1 billion last year to C$129.5 billion at the end of 2012, while public and private equities rose from C$51.7 billion to C$59.5 billion over the same period.
4 min read · 02 April 2013
Vancouver's First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has completed its estimated C$5.1 billion acquisition of Toronto-based Inmet Mining Corp., which owns and operates a major copper mine in Panama, among other assets. As of April 1st, First Quantum held 92.7% of the company's outstanding common shares. One of Inmet's major shareholders has been Ellington Investments, an investment division of Sinapore's Temasek Holdings, which acquired a C$500 million stake in the company in 2011.
7 min read · 02 April 2013
Cincinnati, Ohio-based Milacron LLC, a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors, has completed is purchase of Mold-Masters Ltd. from British private equity firm 3i Group. Milacron, which supplies plastics-processing technologies and industrial fluids, bought 100% of the shares of the Georgetown, Ontario-based Mold-Master for an enterprise value of C$975 million. 3i invested C$166 million in the manufacturing company in 2007.
2 min read · 02 April 2013
Jim Leech will step down as president and CEO of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, a position he has held since 2007, according to a report by The Globe and Mail. Mr. Leech told reporters that he will retire by the end of 2013, and that a search process for finding his successor is already underway. Mr. Leech joined Ontario Teachers in 2001 to lead the pension plan's private equity investment arm Teachers' Private Capital. Before joining Teachers, he was president and CEO of Canadian merchant bank Unicorp Canada Corp.
1 min read · 02 April 2013
Vancouver-based renewable energy developer Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. (NGP) has transferred ownership of its Blue Mountain Geothermal Project in Nevada to EIG Global Energy Partners, a U.S. private equity firm focused on the energy sector. EIG had previously been the mezzanine provider to the project. As part of the transaction, NGP received C$500,000. Effective in April 2013, the company will change its name to Alternative Earth Resources Inc.
3 min read · 02 April 2013
Los Angeles, California-based Women's Venture Capital Fund, which is focused on investing in women entrepreneurs and companies with gender-diverse teams, has announced the formation of an advisory board. Among the appointees is Beth Horowitz, former president and CEO of Amex Bank of Canada. Ms. Horowitz is also a member of Catalyst Canada Advisory Board and a former member of Amex's Global Diversity Council.
3 min read · 01 April 2013
Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, has promoted two of the company's executive vice-presidents, Roman Drohomirecki and Claude Sirois, to the positions of co-chief operating officers. Ivanhoé also announced plans to invest up to C$300 million in real estate projects in Québec. Jean Laramée, the new Senior Vice President of Québec Real Estate Capital, will be responsible for this initiative.
4 min read · 01 April 2013
GoodLife Fitness Centers Inc. has acquired Extreme Fitness Inc., an operator of fitness clubs in the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding region. The deal, the financial details of which were not published, will increase GoodLife's chain of fitness clubs across Canada to over 300. Last year, the company bought seven Golds' Gym locations. Based in London, Ontario, GoodLife Fitness has since 2006 been backed by Canadian private equity firms, including Penfund and Manulife Capital.
4 min read · 01 April 2013
German insurer Allianz SE and Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, have agreed to pay 1.6 billion euros (US$2 billion), including debt, for Czech gas pipeline operator Net4Gas s.r.o., as financial investors flock to such assets in search of safe returns, reports Reuters. The company is being sold by Germany's RWE Group. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2013, will see Allianz and Borealis each own 50 percent of Net4Gas.
1 min read · 01 April 2013
Vancouver, British Columbia-based Wilkinson Steel and Metals Inc., a portfolio company of British private equity firm Nova Capital Management, has been sold to Samuel, Son & Co. Ltd. Financial terms of the deal were not published. Wilkinson, a steel and metal service center business, was acquired by Nova Capital in 2011 along with four other businesses owned by Premetalco Inc. The Mississauga-based Samuel is a processor and distributor of carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum.
2 min read · 01 April 2013
