Ironshore Pharmaceuticals and Development Inc, a subsidiary of Highland Therapeutics Inc, has closed a US$200 million private placement of senior secured notes. Ironshore said the deal's proceeds will support its evolution from a research organization to a pharmaceutical company. It will also fund pre-commercialization and launch strategies for HLD200, a novel formulation of psycho-stimulants used to treat attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Highland, a pharmaceutical company and client of MaRS Discovery District, raised US$50 million in debt and equity funding from Eastern Capital and other sources in mid-2015.
3 min read · 24 January 2017
Northern Investment Partners, a Montréal private equity firm focused on real estate technology, has partnered with M Capital Group (MCG) to invest in Canada's wholesale data centre sector. The partnership plans to invest up to $160 million to pursue a strategy that will provide facilities for AA and AAA tenants to house their IT infrastructure. Northern Chairman Roger Karam said Canada is poised to capture an increasing share of the global data centre industry, which is currently valued at more than US$14 billion. Dubai-based MCG is a merchant banking firm.
3 min read · 24 January 2017
Canadian cleantech investor Chrysalix Venture Capital has been named "Financial Investor of the Year" as part of the 2017 Global Cleantech 100 Awards. The Vancouver-based firm won the award because seven of its portfolio companies were named to the 2017 Global Cleantech 100, the most of any venture investor. The companies were: Axine Water Technologies, Enbala Power Networks, GaN Systems, General Fusion, GlassPoint, MineSense and NanoSteel. Last year, Chrysalix launched a US$111.5 million robotics fund in partnership with RoboValley.
3 min read · 24 January 2017
Diagram Ventures, a new Canadian venture capital firm led by Founder and CEO François Lafortune and Chairman Paul Desmarais III, has closed a $25 million debut fund. The fund was backed by Portag3 Ventures, the fintech venture fund of Power Corp, and more than 50 angel investors, including Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes and former Rogers CEO Nadir Mohammed. Diagram will make a few, large investments in Canadian startups in financial, insurance and healthcare technology. It has already backed two companies: Dialogue, a Montréal virtual health and wellness platform, and Collage, a Toronto cloud platform that automates human resources and benefits.
3 min read · 24 January 2017
Northleaf Capital Partners has closed its second OECD-focused pooled infrastructure fund, Northleaf Infrastructure Capital Partners II (NICP II), at its $950 million hard-cap target. NICP II, which was launched in 2015, will focus on direct investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in developed markets. The fund has already made its first two investments: a portfolio of U.K. bulk liquid storage assets and a portfolio of U.S. wind and solar assets. It also recently agreed to acquire a stake in Northwest Parkway, a Denver, Colorado highway system. The $2.5 billion infrastructure program of Northleaf, a Canadian private-markets investor, operates from offices in Toronto and London.
3 min read · 24 January 2017
Meta Inc, a Toronto big-data company that uses machine intelligence to solve core research information challenges, has agreed to be acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. No financial terms were released. The acquisition is the first to be made by Chan Zuckerberg, a philanthropic organization launched in 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, TechCrunch reported. Meta was founded in 2010 by CEO Sam Molyneux and EVP Amy Molyneux. It was backed by Canadian venture capital firm iGan Partners, which led Meta's seed round in 2014, as well as Rho Canada Ventures, Solina Chau (Horizons Ventures), Everline Investments and angel investors.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
Fortress Bioenergy Ltd, a subsidiary of Fortress Paper Ltd (TSX: FTP), has entered into an agreement with IAM Infrastructure Private Debt Fund LP to receive a $40 million secured loan. Fortress, a Canadian producer of specialty pulp and security papers products, said the loan's proceeds will be used to repay convertible debentures, among other things. IAM Infrastructure Private Debt Fund LP is managed by IAM Private Debt Group, a division of Toronto-based Integrated Asset Management Corp. The fund raised $347 million last September.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
U.S. private equity firm Riverside Co has made an undisclosed investment in Nustef Foods Ltd, a Mississauga, Ontario-based manufacturer of Italian-inspired pizelle waffle cookies and artisan crackers under the Reko brand. Founded in 1985 by President and CEO Ces Nucci, NuStef has built a customer base in the grocery, mass, club and foodservice channels across the United States and Canada. Riverside Partner Meranee Phing said the firm will focus on expanding Nustef through investments in distribution, product innovation and marketing. This activity will be supported by Riverside Senior Food and Beverage Advisor Richard Lan.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
TerraForm Global Inc, an affiliate of U.S. renewable energy company SunEdison Inc, has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Canada's Brookfield Asset Management to negotiate a potential deal. Before doing so, TerraForm Global said it had received a revised bid from Brookfield. It was proposed that Brookfield would either acquire 100 percent of the company for up to US$4.35 per share or replace SunEdison as the company’s sponsor and buy 50.1 percent of the outstanding shares for up to US$4.25 per share. Earlier this month, Brookfield submitted proposals for buying SunEdison's other affiliate, TerraForm Power Inc.
5 min read · 23 January 2017
Ottawa’s Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) program has so far leveraged $886 million in total investment in Canada's innovation ecosystem, according to data compiled by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). VCAP, launched in 2014, saw Ottawa invest $340 million to help privately-managed funds-of-funds raise $1.4 billion, $904 million of which came from private sources. VCAP-supported venture capital funds have so far invested $481 million in 163 technology companies and contributed to strong market growth in 2016, the data showed. CVCA said it will be important for the 2017 federal budget to include details of a follow-up VCAP program.
4 min read · 23 January 2017
