Australian newspaper publisher Fairfax Media Ltd (FXJ.AX) on Monday said it has received a revised A$2.76 billion ($2.04 billion) cash offer led by U.S. private equity firm TPG Capital Management for all of the company, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 14 May 2017
Canada's Brookfield Asset Management has agreed to buy Light SA's stake in Brazilian renewable energy company Renova Energia SA and eventually become controlling shareholder, a source with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters. Brookfield will first acquire a 20.3 percent stake owned by Light in Renova, worth about US$64 million. A second step to become controlling shareholder will involve a capital injection of 800 million reais, diluting controlling investor Centrais Elétricas de Minas Gerais SA, the source said.
1 min read · 12 May 2017
Power Financial Corp has invested $50 million in "robo-adviser" Wealthsimple, bringing its total investment in the two-year-old financial technology company to $100 million, Reuters reported. Toronto-based Wealthsimple provides automated investment advice to consumers and helps manage personalized portfolios based on responses to an online questionnaire about investment goals. It entered the U.S. market at the end of January. The company said it now has more than 30,000 clients in Canada and the United States, up from 20,000 earlier this year. Wealthsimple, which is led by Founder and CEO Michael Katchen, said it will use the funds raised to continue its North American expansion and grow Wealthsimple for Advisors, its B2B platform.
2 min read · 11 May 2017
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is considering a bid for Dominion Diamond Corp and is studying the Canadian miner's books, people familiar with the process told Reuters. The move comes after Dominion, the world's third largest diamond producer by market value, put itself up for sale in late March, following an unsolicited US$1.1 billion approach by U.S. billionaire Dennis Washington. CPPIB is one of more than five parties that have signed an agreement with Dominion to get access to its confidential data, one source said. It is unlikely that the pension fund will make an offer for the company on its own, and if CPPIB decides to proceed with a bid, it may financially back a partner with mine operation expertise, the sources said.
3 min read · 11 May 2017
Home Capital Group, Canada's biggest non-bank lender, is in talks to divest about $2 billion in assets to help pay down a high-interest loan and delay a potential sale of the entire company, sources told Reuters. The Toronto company wants to sell all or part of its commercial mortgage portfolio, its consumer finance business and a small portion of its traditional residential mortgage portfolio to raise the $2 billion. U.S. buyout firms Cerberus Capital Management LP, Fortress Investment Group LLC and Apollo Global Management LLC are among those in active talks with Home Capital about buying some of its assets. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, as well as other pension funds and some private equity firms, are in talks about providing an alternative loan, the sources said.
2 min read · 11 May 2017
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is considering a bid for Dominion Diamond Corp (DDC.TO)(DDC.N) and is studying the miner's books, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 11 May 2017
U.S. organic food delivery service Sun Basket said on Thursday it had raised $9.2 million in a fundraising round led by Unilever Ventures, the venture arm of consumer products company Unilever Plc (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS), Reuters reported.
2 min read · 11 May 2017
U.S. pipeline Kinder Morgan Inc's Canadian unit is seeking to raise up to $1.75 billion in an initial public offering in Toronto, Reuters reported, citing a regulatory filing. If successful, the deal would be one of Canada's top five IPOs and help fund the expansion of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline. Kinder Morgan expects the expansion project to cost about $7.4 billion. In the last few months, Kinder Morgan had been working on a dual-track process to explore an IPO or joint venture of its Canadian business. Kinder Morgan had held talks with major Canadian pension funds and private equity firms about raising funds for the project, Reuters previously reported.
2 min read · 10 May 2017
Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), one of Canada's largest pension investment managers, said it planned to expand its London operations, hiring staff and boosting investments, Reuters reported. PSP, which manages $125.8 billion across a range of markets, said it would increase staffing in London to 40 from 28 over the next 12 months. It opened the office in 2015. The team will focus on private equity, private debt, infrastructure and real estate, PSP said, and help it to boost investments across Europe by 20-30 percent over the next five years.
2 min read · 10 May 2017
Home Capital Group Inc said a third party intends to buy up to $1.5 billion in mortgages, Reuters reported. The third party has indicated its non-binding intention to buy as much as $1 billion in uninsured mortgages and to buy, or accept, commitments for up to $500 million in insured mortgages, the company said. Earlier this month, Reuters reported several Canadian and U.S. private equity firms were considering bids to acquire Home Capital, a Toronto-based alternative mortgage lender. They included Apollo Global Management, Blackstone Group, Brookfield Asset Management and Fairfax Financial Holdings.
2 min read · 09 May 2017
