Canada's top private equity firms have slowed their recruitment of new professional talent, says a report by Tim Kiladze of The Globe and Mail. In 2010 and 2011, institutional funds like CPP Investment Board - Private Investments, OMERS Private Equity, and Teachers Private Capital were bulking up staffs to help manage the increased pace of global deal-making, recruiting from investment banks and Bay Street veterans. However, personnel appears to be reaching full complements, with OMERS and Teachers growing staff by only 10% in 2012, The Globe and Mail reports.
1 min read · 17 January 2013
Mich Mathews, the former Chief Marketing Officer of Microsoft Corp., has joined the board of OANDA, a provider of foreign exchange trading services. On the board, she joins Kittu Kolluri, a General Partner at NEA; Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer; independent director Renato Fassbind; and Michael Stumm, co-founder of OANDA and a computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto.
3 min read · 17 January 2013
CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has joined Stone Point Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as an investor in MerchCap Solutions LLC, the firms announced Thursday. Formed in August of 2012, MerchCap provides principal and agency-based capital markets services to sponsor-backed and corporate mid-market companies. In addition to the $300 million of capital previously committed by Stone Point and KKR, CPPIB Credit will commit an additional $50 million of equity to MCS.
5 min read · 17 January 2013
Canadian private equity firm Granite Partners has acquired Chair-man Mills, Inc., a Toronto, Ontario-based provider of table top rentals, stages and dance floors for special events, founded in 1911. The financial terms of the deal were not released. Granite Partners specializes in succession planning transactions, management buyouts and shot-gun transactions.
1 min read · 17 January 2013
A new Winnipeg, Manitoba-based company, FRANK Digital Inc., a full-service digital production facility equipped to collaborate with clients on commercial, corporate and branded content productions, has been formed through the merger of the commercial units of Frantic Films Corp. and Mid Canada Production Services Inc. The television and film production-focused Frantic Films is a portfolio company of Canadian private equity firm PRIVEQ Capital Funds. PRIVEQ provided the company with expansion capital in 2007.
3 min read · 17 January 2013
The acquisition of Atlanta, Georgia-based Precision Aviation Group Inc. by U.S. private equity firm PNC Riverarch Capital in December included key subsidiaries located in Surrey, B.C., peHUB Canada has learned. Precision Accessories and Instruments Canada Inc. and Precision Heliparts Canada Inc. contribute to the company's specialization in products and value-added services to the global aerospace and defense industry. Precision Aviation Group was previously a portfolio company of Florida Capital Partners.
2 min read · 17 January 2013
The Board of Directors of Sprott Power Corp., a publicly traded, Toronto, Ontario-based company focused on the development, ownership and operation of renewable energy projects, has initiated a strategic review aimed at enhancing shareholder value. Options under consideration include the possible sale of the company. Sprott has received financing from Canadian private equity firm VentureLink LP.
2 min read · 17 January 2013
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a new federal initiative to improve access to venture capital investments for high-growth innovative companies. Totaling C$400 million, the Venture Capital Action Plan will include a C$250 million privately managed fund of funds, which will make commitments to venture capital funds in partnership with corporate and institutional investors, and interested provincial governments. Another C$150 million will be ear-marked for recapitalizing existing funds of funds and making direct commitments to leading funds. The plan's combined capital is to be deployed over the next seven to 10 years.
3 min read · 17 January 2013
Canadian e-retailers Dealfind.com Inc. and TeamBuy.ca Inc. have agreed to merge to create a single online deals destination. The Toronto-based companies, which offer daily deals on products and services in electronics, fashion, housewares, restaurants and travel, will operate separately in 2013 and then integrate websites under a new banner. Dealfind.com has been backed since 2011 by Georgian Partners, Insight Venture Partners and the Ontario Venture Capital Fund. TeamBuy.ca has also received venture capital financing from undisclosed sources.
3 min read · 17 January 2013
Canadian private equity firm Pinetree Capital has made two new mining-related investments. Pinetree acquired common shares and warrants in the Vancouver-based Laurentian Goldfields Ltd., which focuses on the acquisition, exploration and development of high quality gold properties in Canada. Pinetree also bought common shares and warrants in U3O8 Corp. of Toronto, a uranium discovery company which targets properties in South America.
3 min read · 17 January 2013
