SKY Aviation Leasing International Ltd, a Dublin, Ireland-based full-service aircraft leasing company, has closed a US$750 million warehouse debt financing facility. About half of the facility is expected to be drawn to finance aircraft currently owned or soon to be acquired by the company. The rest of the facility will be use to finance additional aircraft acquisitions. SKY Leasing is owned by U.S. private equity firm ATL Partners and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). ATL and PSP invested more than US$250 million in the company's launch last October.
2 min read · 28 September 2016
IAM Private Debt Group has closed its Infrastructure Private Debt Fund at $347 million in committed capital. The fund, backed by institutional investors, will make loans with terms of up to 25 years. It will build on the group's prior financings of toll bridges, wind farms, solar energy, biomass and cogeneration facilities, and municipal waste treatment assets across Canada. The private debt group, a division of Toronto-based Integrated Asset Management Corp (TSX: IAM), raised $672 million for its fifth mid-market fund, Integrated Private Debt Fund V, last November.
2 min read · 28 September 2016
U.S. private equity firm Thoma Bravo has closed its acquisition of Trader Corp, a Canadian digital automotive marketplace and software solutions provider. The deal, announced in July, was valued at about $1.57 billion (US$1.22 billion). The seller was British private equity firm Apax Partners, which held the Etobicoke, Ontario-based company for close to five years. Holden Spaht, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo, said the firm will focus on further development of Trader and support its future growth initiatives.
3 min read · 28 September 2016
The Canadian government said its Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) has so far benefited a total of 126 Canadian innovative companies. VCAP, launched three years ago to encourage private sector participation in the domestic venture capital industry, raised nearly $1.4 billion for four market-based funds of funds. Investment activity leveraged by the program to date totals $453 million. Ottawa said more investments are expected in the coming years. VCAP is managed by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).
4 min read · 28 September 2016
France's PSA Group, parent of the Peugeot automotive brand, and Canadian merchant bank MacKinnon, Bennett & Co (MKB) have acquired an interest in Communauto Inc. No financial terms were released. Based in Montréal, Communauto is a car-sharing business, offering a fleet of electric vehicles as well as station-based and related services. It currently operates in seven cities in Canada as well as in Paris. The investment by PSA and MKB, an investor in renewable energy and smart cities sectors, is intended to speed up the company's global expansion and roll out its electrification strategy. Communauto is led by CEO Benoît Robert, who founded it in 1994.
4 min read · 28 September 2016
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) has invested US$500 million in Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc, a Memphis, Tennessee-based provider of third-party claims management services. The deal will give CDPQ a significant minority interest in the company alongside Sedgwick's majority owner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), as well as Stone Point Capital. Founded in 1969, Sedgwick has some 275 offices located in North America and Europe. Earlier this month, the company's affiliate, Vericlaim Canada, acquired Toronto-based RGM Claims Services Inc.
4 min read · 28 September 2016
OMERS Private Equity (OPE) has sold Great Expressions Dental Centers, a U.S. dental support organization with 269 affiliated practice locations across ten states. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which saw the company acquired by U.S. private equity firm Roark Capital Group. OPE bought Great Expressions from Audax Group in October 2011. It said the company entered three new markets and added 108 new locations during OPE's period of ownership. Great Expressions is OPE's eighth exit in the last three years, Senior Managing Director Michael Graham said. The firm's other recent exits include Give & Go Prepared Foods Corp, sold to Thomas H. Lee Partners last month.
3 min read · 28 September 2016
The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) has named Wattpad "CIX 2016 Innovator of the Year." Based in Toronto, Wattpad is a social marketplace that creates connections between readers and writers. It received the award for its "transforming" contribution to the entertainment industry, CIX said. Wattpad's co-founder and CEO Allen Lau will accept the award on behalf of the company at CIX on November 22nd. Venture-backed since 2011, Wattpad's raised $46 million in a Series C financing led by OMERS Ventures in April 2014.
3 min read · 27 September 2016
PHI Group Inc has agreed to acquire an unidentified Canadian educational company. The cash-and-stock deal, the terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to close in October. PHI Group, a U.S. holding company, said the target business is a private provider of English language and career training services to about 20,000 students annually. Milost Advisors, an affiliate of U.S. private equity firm Milost Global, arranged financing for the deal. Milost Global and PHI Group earlier in 2016 formed a vehicle to acquire public companies that generate annual revenue of up to US$5 billion.
3 min read · 27 September 2016
Sanjel Energy Services Inc has been launched with an equity investment from ARC Financial Corp, a Canadian energy private equity firm. No financial terms were disclosed. Based in Calgary, Sanjel is a supplier of cementing and acidizing solutions to the oil and gas industry. It was formed as a result of ARC's acquisition of certain assets of Sanjel Corp in April. Douglas Freel, a managing director of ARC, said the investment will support the new company as it weathers the current downturn, and provide it financial flexibility to expand as opportunities arise. In June, PE Hub Canada featured a story about ARC's investments in Longshore Resources and Wayfinder.
3 min read · 27 September 2016
