An investor group formed to buy Pineville, Louisiana-based utility Cleco Corp (NYSE: CNL) has joined with the company to offer enhanced deal commitments. British Columbia Investment Management Corp (bcIMC), Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and the other investors have added to some 77 commitments, including a new proposal that would see Louisiana pension plans invest in up to 10 percent of Cleco equity. The effort is intended to convince regulators to approve the previously announced US$4.7 billion acquisition. Regulators turned down the deal in February.
7 min read · 16 March 2016
Toronto-based CrowdRiff has secured $2.7 million (US$2 million) in seed-stage financing from Canadian venture capital firms BDC Capital and Gibraltar Ventures and U.S. firms High Alpha Capital and Foundation Capital. Founded in 2014, CrowdRiff is a provider of visual and social marketing solutions for destination and travel brands. Its customer base saw growth of 400 percent in 2015, the company reported. Led by Co-founder and CEO Dan Holowack, CrowdRiff plans to use funds raised to drive product innovation, accelerate hiring in sales and marketing, and build out its technology platform.
4 min read · 16 March 2016
3 min read · 16 March 2016
ISS A/S (ISS.CO, ISS DC) has been notified by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan of the latter's decision to sell its shares in the company. Ontario Teachers, which invested in ISS in August 2012, will no longer hold any of its shares following the sale. Copenhagen, Denmark-based ISS, a provider of integrated facility services, went public two years ago. It was previously majority-owned by EQT Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
2 min read · 15 March 2016
Averna has acquired Belgium's Test & Measurement Solutions Group (T&M Solutions), a provider of technology solutions for the quality control of diverse products and production processes. No financial terms were released. Averna’s primary investors, Tandem Expansion Fund and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), contributed to the deal's financing. Montréal-based Averna, a developer of test solutions and services for communications and electronics device makers, said the acquisition represents a major expansion by the company into the European market. Last April, Tandem, a Canadian late-stage venture capital firm, bought a majority stake in Averna.
4 min read · 15 March 2016
Librestream Technologies Inc has secured $11 million in financing. Emerald Technology Ventures led the round and was joined by BDC Capital and other investors. Based in Winnipeg, Librestream provides mobile video collaboration solutions to energy, field service, manufacturing, and public sector industries. Its Onsight platform is deployed on over 10 million devices worldwide. Librestream said it would use the round's proceeds to advance growth plans through the addition of sales and marketing resources and acceleration of the product road-map. With the investment, Emerald's Charles Vaslet and BDC's Geoff Catherwood have joined the company's board of directors.
3 min read · 15 March 2016
3 min read · 15 March 2016
QLess, a U.S.-based customer experience and queue management software company, has secured US$3.5 million in funding from Canadian specialty finance firm Wellington Financial. Headquartered in Pasadena, California, QLess helps businesses optimize their customer experience process by providing an interactive platform for employees to manage customer service flow. It said it will use the funds supplied by Wellington to accelerate the company's growth and "support our vision to eliminate customer lineups around the planet.” Last November, Wellington closed its fifth fund, Wellington Financial Fund V, at its hard-cap target of $300 million.
3 min read · 14 March 2016
Vanedge Capital has held an initial close of its second information technology fund on the strength of several big portfolio wins, including last year’s sales of MediaCore, Metafor and Recon. Vanedge II raised $104 million in committed capital in January, Vanedge Managing Partner Moe Kermani told PE Hub Canada. That puts the fund over half way to meeting its $200 million target.
3 min read · 13 March 2016
Canadian mining company Wellgreen Platinum Ltd (TSX: WG) has launched a $12.1 million private placement. In connection to the deal, the company has agreed to receive a $10 million equity investment from Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund, a private equity fund managed by U.S. investment firm Electrum Group. As a result of the deal, Electrum will own a 26.9 percent equity interest in Wellgreen, or a 40.6 percent interest if all related warrants are exercised, and have the right to nominate two individuals to the board of directors. Vancouver-based Wellgreen, which has also been backed by Resource Capital Funds, said it will use the new funds to further develop its Yukon nickel project.
7 min read · 10 March 2016
