British private equity firm 3i has sold plastic equipment maker Mold-Masters to US rival Milacron for 615 million pounds ($963 million) as part of its debt-reduction disposal plan, writes Reuters. Under pressure from frustrated shareholders to cut its 1.2 billion pound debt to less than 1 billion pounds by June, 3i had said it will focus on asset disposals to achieve this goal and boost its weak share price.
2 min read · 12 February 2013
1 min read · 11 February 2013
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. said on Monday it plans to sell its 50 percent stake in RSI Home Products back to the privately held company for about $323 million, Reuters wrote. Onex said its investment in RSI, which manufactures kitchen and bathroom cabinets, has generated significant returns for its fund. Onex invested $318 million in RSI in October 2008. Following the close of the sale, Onex will have received total proceeds of about $471 million from RSI, including prior distributions.
1 min read · 11 February 2013
The real estate investment arms of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and US private equity firm TPG have completed their joint acquisition of Woolgate Exchange, an office building located in the centre of London's financial district. The Caisse's Ivanhoé Cambridge and TPG Real Estate invested a total of C$400 million in the transaction. This is the second purchase in London for Ivanhoé Cambridge in the past twelve months, bringing its total invested to C$650 million.
3 min read · 11 February 2013
KingSett Capital has teamed up with former competitor H&R Real Estate Investment Trust to acquire Canadian shopping mall owner Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust. The Toronto, Ontario-based KingSett, a private equity firm focused on the real estate sector, leads an investor group that includes Ontario Pension Board. Under the terms of the new purchase offer, valued at nearly C$28 per Primaris unit, or close to C$5 billion in total, the KingSett consortium and H&R will divide Primaris operational assets and properties.
10 min read · 11 February 2013
Gilead Sciences Inc., a biopharmaceuticals company based in Foster City, California, has closed its acquisition of all of the outstanding common shares of YM BioSciences Inc., a drug development company that has focused on treatments for blood and immune cell disorders. The transaction, which was originally announced in December, has been priced at around US$510 million. The Mississauga, Ontario-based YM Biosciences was founded in the mid-1990s with the backing of Canadian venture capital firm Covington Funds.
2 min read · 11 February 2013
Strangeloop Networks Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia-based provider of next-generation front-end optimization (FEO) solutions to accelerate dynamic web applications, has been acquired by application delivery vendor Radware Ltd. of Mahwah, New Jersey. The financial terms of the deal were not published. Strangeloop has been backed by a group of private investors, many of them Canadian angel investors, since 2007. The company raised a disclosed total of C$21.5 million in venture capital investment.
5 min read · 11 February 2013
DW Healthcare Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm, closed its third fund with $265 million in commitments. The firm also said that it opened an office in Toronto. During the course of fundraising, DW Healthcare Partners closed three deals with the new fund, investing in Z-Medica, Health & Safety Institute and Med-Pharmex.
2 min read · 11 February 2013
3 min read · 11 February 2013
The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rule amendments this past August to implement one of the most widely anticipated provisions of the JOBS Act: elimination of the ban on general solicitation and advertising in certain private securities offerings.
3 min read · 11 February 2013
