KSL Capital Partners has taken a 24% stake in Canadian ski resort owner Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc., buying the stake from Intrawest. As a result of the sale, Bill Jensen steps down from his post of director and chief executive, and Wes Edens and Jonathan Ashley each stepped down from the board. The deal is expected to close Wednesday.
7 min read · 04 December 2012
High Road Capital Partners scored its second exit for its debut fund, High Road Capital Partners Fund I, LP, dealing Accentus to Nuance Communications Inc. The deal generated a 3.1x gross cash-on-cash return and a 49.0% gross IRR, the firm said. Specific terms of the sale were not released. The firm’s first exit was Milwaukee Gear in February 2012.
2 min read · 04 December 2012
Canadian mid-market buyout firm Birch Hill Equity Partners closed its previously announced control-stake acquisition of Toronto-based HOMEQ Corp., a national provider of reverse mortgages to homeowners aged 55 and older. The C$135.7 million deal, which moves HOMEQ from public to private ownership, is Birch's fifth deal this year.
2 min read · 03 December 2012
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) announced plans to make $100 million in new commitments to early stage information technology companies based in Canada. The investments will be made through the BDC Venture Capital IT Fund. The fund has already committed $50 million to companies such as Radian6 (acquired by Salesforce), Opalis (acquired by Microsoft), Bycast (acquired by NetApp) and Q1 Labs (acquired by IBM).
3 min read · 03 December 2012
A group of investors led by Relay Ventures has provided seed capital to Kira Talent Inc., a Toronto-based company that has developed an online interviewing platform for business managers and recruiters. The amount of the round was not disclosed. Relay Ventures has been actively doing deals since the final close of its US$150 million BlackBerry Partners Fund II in March 2012.
3 min read · 03 December 2012
The Government of British Columbia has announced that C$3.3 million in funding has been provided to 61 aboriginal communities to facilitate clean energy development projects and attract additional investment. Cleantech expenditures are made through the First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund, established and capitalized by the provincial government in 2010.
2 min read · 03 December 2012
Toronto-based Inmet Mining Corp., which owns and operates copper and zinc mining sites around the world, has rejected a second takeover bid from Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals Ltd. The latest bid had an estimated value of C$4.9 billion (or C$70 per share). Inmet has a major private equity backer, Ellington Investments, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, which invested C$500 million in the company in 2011. First Quantum previously made an unsolicited buyout offer that contemplated an acquisition price of C$62.50 per Inmet share.
2 min read · 03 December 2012
Vanoil Energy Ltd., a Vancouver-based developer of oil and gas properties in Africa, has acquired British firm Avana Petroleum Ltd. for approximately C$15 million. Vanoil is a portfolio company of Canadian private equity investor Pinetree Capital Corp., which focuses on natural resource sectors.
5 min read · 03 December 2012
Cadens Imaging Inc., a Granby, Québec-based developer of computer-assisted medical imaging solutions, announced it has received C$2.7 million in seed financing. The deal was led by Desjardins-Innovatech SEC, a joint initiative of Desjardins Capital de risque and the Government of Quebec. Other investors included Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (FTQ) and Anges Québec.
3 min read · 03 December 2012
Outgoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro delayed immediately implementing a rule to lift a ban on broader-based advertising for private placements in part because she feared it would tarnish her legacy as a pro-investor leader of the agency, sister news service Reuters reported, citing internal SEC e-mails obtained by a U.S. House of Representatives oversight panel.
4 min read · 03 December 2012
