Q4 Inc, formerly known as Q4 Web Systems Inc, has closed a $22 million Series B financing, bringing the company's total funding so far to $30 million. Investors in the Series B round included OpenText Enterprise Apps Fund, Information Venture Partners, HarbourVest Partners, Emerillon Capital and Kensington Capital Partners. Plaza Ventures, which led Q4's Series A round in February 2015, also invested, as did Accomplice. Founded in 2006, Toronto-based Q4 is a software-as-a-service platform focused on communication and intelligence solutions for the investor relations market. It said funds raised will be used to expand the company's engineering, sales and marketing teams. Q4 has offices in Chicago and New York.
5 min read · 17 May 2016
U.K. alternative assets manager Schroders has agreed to buy the securitized products investment management team of Brookfield Investment Management, which oversees more than US$4 billion. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter. As a result, the Brookfield team, which is led by Managing Director Michelle Russell-Dowe, will combine with Schroders' fixed income operations in New York. The combined group will manage more than US$8 billion. Schroders said the acquisition "deepens our capabilities in one of the largest and most research intensive credit sectors globally."
3 min read · 16 May 2016
The Fonds de solidarité FTQ has committed $29 million to acquire forest land in Maine along the Québec border. The investment, which will be managed by Solifor, a Fonds’ subsidiary, is intended to supply fibre for Québec sawmills and wood processors. Launched in 2005 to acquire and manage privately-owned forest land, Solifor has previously invested $140 million to buy over 153,000 hectares of forests in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, Lotbinière, Charlevoix, Saguenay, Portneuf, Mauricie and Abitibi regions of Québec. It plans to make additional acquisitions in the future.
4 min read · 16 May 2016
Blue Star Sports has acquired Goalline, a Halifax-based provider of sports management software that currently services over 10 million users. No financial terms were released. Blue Star, an integrated software and payments provider to youth sports organizations, said the deal expands its offerings to new and existing customers. The Frisco, Texas-based company, which last month bought Toronto's Pointstreak Sports Technologies, is backed by U.S. private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and other investors.
3 min read · 16 May 2016
U.S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) has agreed to buy Quickplay Media Inc, a Toronto-based managed video platform that powers premium video over all networks and devices. No financial terms were disclosed for the acquisition, which is expected to close in mid-2016. The primary seller in the deal is U.S. private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Quickplay for US$100 million in July 2012. Last year, Madison Dearborn and partners Orix Ventures and Difference Capital Financial invested an additional US$57 million in the company. Dallas, Texas-based AT&T said the Quickplay acquisition will enhance its video content delivery capability.
4 min read · 16 May 2016
Toronto-based alternative assets manager Brookfield Asset Management said that it has collected about US$25 billion of capital commitments in its latest round of private fundraising. The amount includes the US$9 billion committed to the final close of the firm's latest real estate fund. It also includes about US$12 billion committed to the initial close of Brookfield's latest infrastructure fund. Earlier this year, the infrastructure group agreed to partner in the acquisition of Australian logistics business Asciano Ltd. Once the deal is closed, Brookfield said it will own all of the ports services operation and 50 percent of the container terminal operation.
10 min read · 16 May 2016
Toronto-based alternative assets manager Brookfield Asset Management said the spin-off and listing of its private equity investment arm, Brookfield Business Partners LP (BBP), will occur on June 20, 2016. The spin-off of BBP, first announced in October 2015, will be accomplished through a special distribution to shareholders valued at about US$0.50 per Brookfield share, or about US$500 million in total. Cyrus Madon, CEO of BBP and a senior managing partner of Brookfield, said the spin-off will give public-market investors exposure to growth opportunities and assets within Brookfield's private equity group. Brookfield is expected to retain about 78 percent of the vehicle's total equity interest.
6 min read · 16 May 2016
The parent of TeraGo Networks Inc has agreed to acquire the international hosting business of AirVM Inc, an Ottawa-based cloud management platform. No financial terms were released for the deal, which is expected to close this month. TeraGo, a Toronto-based provider of Internet, co-location and cloud services, said the acquisition will give it expanded infrastructure-as-a-service offerings from locations in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as new employees, customers and partners. AirVM raised $8 million in a Series A financing last August. The round was led by RHO Canada Ventures and joined by Build Ventures and Wesley Clover International.
4 min read · 13 May 2016
The parent of TeraGo Networks Inc has agreed to acquire the international hosting business of AirVM Inc, an Ottawa-based cloud management platform. No financial terms were released for the deal, which is expected to close this month. TeraGo, a Toronto-based provider of Internet, co-location and cloud services, said the acquisition will give it expanded infrastructure-as-a-service offerings from locations in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as new employees, customers and partners. AirVM raised $8 million in a Series A financing last August. The round was led by RHO Canada Ventures and joined by Build Ventures and Wesley Clover International.
4 min read · 13 May 2016
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) has appointed Sandra McEwen to the position of vice-president, valuations, risk analytics and model validation. McEwen has more than 17 years of audit, valuation and team leadership experience. Prior to joining the pension fund, she worked as vice-president, deals, at PWC Canada. Based in Toronto, OTPP has net assets of $171.4 billion.
1 min read · 12 May 2016
