U.S. ride hailing company Lyft raised an additional US$500 million in its recent round of funding, bringing in new capital totaling US$1.5 billion, Reuters reported. The funding round was led by one of Alphabet Inc's investment funds, CapitalG, bringing Lyft's current valuation to US$11.5 billion, the company said. Fidelity Management & Research, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, KKR, Janus Henderson Investors and Rakuten also took part in the round. San Francisco-based Lyft is also backed by Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
1 min read · 05 December 2017
Nestlé is paying US$2.3 billion to buy Canadian vitamin maker Atrium Innovations, expanding its presence in the consumer healthcare market as it seeks to offset weakness in its traditional packaged foods, Reuters reported. The world’s largest packaged food company is buying Atrium, which is expected to have 2017 sales of US$700 million, from a group of investors led by European private equity firm Permira Funds. Atrium’s largest brand is Garden of Life supplements. Nestlé said the acquisition will become part of Nestlé Health Science and extend its portfolio with probiotics, plant-based protein nutrition, meal replacements and multivitamins. Québec City-based Atrium was acquired in 2014 by a Permira-led consortium. The deal valued the company at $1.1 billion.
2 min read · 05 December 2017
Swiss mining giant Glencore Plc and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan formed a joint venture for Glencore's portfolio of royalty assets, Reuters reported. Glencore Canada Corp and Ontario Teachers' will have a 50-50 ownership in the venture, BaseCore Metals LP. It will be independently operated and have its own board of directors. Glencore said it contributed a portfolio of royalties to BaseCore valued at about US$300 million. Ontario Teachers' Senior Managing Director Andrew Claerhout said the pension fund's investment in the venture will "ensure attractive relative returns through exposure to commodities that are well-positioned to benefit as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy."
1 min read · 05 December 2017
Canadian pension funds and private equity investors are lining up to buy German metering company Techem with a multi-billion euro sale expected to launch in early 2018, sources told Reuters. Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan have teamed up to bid, while European private equity groups Partners Group and CVC Capital Partners are also interested in the asset, sources said. Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie started preparations to sell the business more than a year ago, but the sale of CVC’s Ista, a larger metering asset, got in ahead. Techem, which supplies energy invoicing and energy management in buildings, could fetch close to US$5 billion.
3 min read · 04 December 2017
Underwriting banks and leveraged loan investors are struggling to analyse the impact of technological disruption on the business models underpinning private equity buyouts, as they try to dodge bullets by avoiding lending to companies that could be rendered obsolete by the ‘Amazon effect’, Reuters reported. KKR-owned U.S. retail giant Toys ‘R’ Us sent shock-waves through the market when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September, citing the “unrelenting competition from e-commerce” as key to its predicament. “Technology is undoubtedly a threat to traditional business models: this is definitely a topic discussed in every credit committee. The first question everyone asks is: ’What’s Amazon doing?’” said Simona Maellare, global co-head of financial sponsors coverage at UBS.
4 min read · 01 December 2017
Canadian luxury retailer Hudson’s Bay Co (HBC) said this week it reached an agreement with shareholder Land & Buildings, under which the U.S. activist hedge fund investor would withdraw its appeal against the conditional approval given for an investment by Rhône Capital, Reuters reported. HBC in October received a US$500 million ($632 million) investment from U.S. private equity firm Rhône in the form of eight-year mandatory convertible preferred shares. Land & Buildings head Jonathan Litt said the investment was not in the best interests of minority shareholders. As a concession to Litt, the Toronto-based HBC said that if it issues new shares in a way that triggers a price protection feature available to Rhône for a year as part of the deal, it would do the issuance as a rights offering available to all its investors on a pro rata basis.
2 min read · 01 December 2017
Some early Flipkart investors, employees and ex-employees are selling their shares in the Indian e-commerce firm as part of a $2.5 billion investment deal agreed with Japan’s SoftBank Group (9984.T), Reuters reported.
2 min read · 30 November 2017
Private equity-backed Canadian waste management company GFL Environmental Inc is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion in an initial public offering that could be filed as early as the first quarter, sources told Reuters. A $1 billion IPO would be the biggest Canadian listing since Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd raised $1.7 billion early this year, and would value GFL at nearly $5 billion, the sources said. It would provide an exit for investors including U.S. private equity firm HPS Investment Partners and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III, a fund linked to a unit of Australian financial services firm Macquarie Group. While an IPO is one of several ways to unlock value, no decision has been made to proceed with an offering, GFL General Counsel Joy Grahek said. GFL is also backed by Canadian private equity firm Hawthorn Equity Partners.
2 min read · 29 November 2017
Chinese groups have shown “broad interest” in buying Potash Corp of Saskatchewan’s stake in Chilean lithium producer SQM, Reuters reported, quoting Potash Corp Chief Executive Jochen Tilk. Potash has agreed to divest its 32 percent stake in SQM, as well as minority stakes in ICL-Israel Chemicals Ltd and Arab Potash Co, to comply with regulators’ concerns in China and India about its merger with Agrium Inc. Lithium is a key component in building electric vehicles. China is the world’s biggest consumer and producer of lithium products, Tilk said. Rio Tinto, Canada’s Wealth Minerals Ltd and Chinese private equity firm GSR Capital are considering a bid for the SQM stake, banking sources told Reuters last week.
1 min read · 29 November 2017
The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Avaya Inc said on Tuesday he would confirm the telecommunication company’s Chapter 11 plan, bringing its nearly year-long effort to reorganize its finances effectively to a close, Reuters reported.
2 min read · 29 November 2017
