Private Equity
OMERS Private Equity has agreed to sell the Canadian operations of healthcare information technology company Logibec Inc to U.S. private equity firm GI Partners. The deal, the financial terms of which were not released, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. Following the close, OMERS said it will continue to own Logibec's U.S. division MatrixCare, an electronic health record provider. The Montréal-based Logibec specializes in clinical and administrative information systems for the health and social services sectors. Founded in 1982, OMERS took the company private in 2010 for $237 million. Earlier this month, OMERS also sold Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers.
4 min read · 19 December 2014
Fulcrum Capital Partners has wrapped up the first close of its fifth partnership, Fulcrum Capital Partners V LP, securing $180 in committed capital. That’s 60 percent of the way to Fund V’s $300 million target, which the firm expects to reach in the first quarter of 2015. In that event, the new fund would be 55 percent larger than Fulcrum Capital Partners IV LP, which closed at $193 million in 2012.
3 min read · 18 December 2014
Emerald Technology Ventures, which has offices in Toronto and Zurich, Switzerland, has led a US$8 million Series A financing of P97 Networks Inc. Also participating in the round were several new and existing investors, including American Trading and Production Corp. Based in Houston, Texas, P97 is the developer of PetroZone, a cloud-based mobile commerce and behavioral marketing platform for the convenience and fuel retailing industry. It plans to use funding proceeds to accelerate product development, as well as sales and marketing. Emerald is focused on investing in energy, water, advanced materials and industrial information technology sectors.
4 min read · 17 December 2014
U.S. private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice has completed its previously announced purchase of convertible preferred shares in CHC Group Ltd (NYSE: HELI). The deal, which totaled $600 million according to the original agreement, will be used by the company to reduce debt and other fixed charges. Based in Vancouver, CHC is a commercial operator of helicopters that provides flight services to oil and gas companies and government search-and-rescue agencies, as well as other services. It has been backed by U.S. private equity firm First Reserve Corp since 2008.
4 min read · 16 December 2014
Private equity ratcheted up its activity in Canada’s oil patch in 2014, signalling a potentially dramatic shift in the energy industry’s funding sources. To date this year, 46 oil and gas deals have absorbed $6.3 billion in disclosed values, according to Thomson Reuters' data. Pentti Karkkainen, co-founder of and senior strategy advisor to KERN Partners, said that record investment shows private equity is rapidly filling much of the void that has recently been left by traditional public market sources.
4 min read · 15 December 2014
Northern Biologics, a biologics startup based in Toronto's MaRS Discovery District, has emerged as the premiere spin-out initiative of Canadian biotechnology incubator Blueline Bioscience. Blueline, which was launched in late 2013 by U.S. venture capital firm Versant Ventures, formed the company in June in partnership with the University of Toronto and University Health Network's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Northern Biologics also received $10 million in a Series A financing from Versant's Fund V, which recently closed at US$305 million. It plans to recruit scientific personnel and advance its portfolio of antibody-based therapeutics for oncology and fibrosis.
4 min read · 10 December 2014
Wellington Financial has provided undisclosed growth capital to iPerceptions Inc, a digital customer research business with headquarters in Montréal. The company said its partnership with Wellington, a Toronto-based specialty finance firm, will support its Voice of Customer analytics platform, which captures customer perceptions of value to enterprises. Founded in 1999, iPerceptions is backed by Canadian technology investor Telesystem and Canadian growth equity investor XPND Capital. Earlier this week, Wellington announced it had provided financing to a mobile software technology startup.
2 min read · 10 December 2014
Wagepoint has raised US$2 million in seed-stage financing. The round was led by Canadian venture capital firm Extreme Venture Partners, and was joined by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agencies (ACOA) and several Canadian and U.S. angel investors. Wagepoint, which has developed an online payroll platform that assists small businesses in automating and simplifying payroll processes, said the funding will help accelerate its penetration into the U.S. market and enhance its product portfolio. The company currently serves nearly 700 North American customers from its offices in Waterloo, Halifax and New York.
4 min read · 09 December 2014
The deal activity of Brookfield Asset Management’s private equity group took several directions in 2014, but it appears to mostly focus on North America’s energy industry. If that’s surprising, it’s because only one transaction has been disclosed to date. In fact, Brookfield PE has been active in several deals involving Calgary's Ember Resources and bankrupt U.S. utility Energy Future Holdings (EFH).
3 min read · 09 December 2014
Ainsworth Lumber Co Ltd (TSX: ANS) has agreed to merge with Norbord Inc (TSX: NBD) in a deal valued at $762.6 million. Brookfield Asset Management, the majority owner of both Canadian companies, has committed to vote in favour of the transaction, which when completed will see it own around 53 percent of the new entity. Minority investor approval will be sought at special meetings to be held in January 2015. Ainsworth and Norbord said the deal will create a leading global wood products business focused on oriented strand board. Earlier this year, a planned US$1.1 billion sale of Ainsworth to Louisiana-Pacific Corp was cancelled due to conflicts with regulatory authorities about required divestitures.
10 min read · 08 December 2014
