Canadian mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc said this week that West Face Long Term Opportunities Global Master LP had sent it a draft statement alleging misrepresentation and claiming $70 million in damages, Reuters reported. Home Capital, Canada’s biggest non-bank lender, had agreed on a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission in June and accepted responsibility for misleading investors about problems with its mortgage underwriting procedures. West Face confirmed that it had opted out of that settlement and raised its claim directly with Home Capital. West Face Long Term Opportunities Global Master LP is managed by West Face Capital, a Toronto-based alternative investment firm.
1 min read · 28 November 2017
Canadian miner Dalradian Resources Inc has filed a planning application and secured a new tranche of funds to build Northern Ireland’s first major underground gold mine, Reuters reported. Dalradian acquired mineral rights in 2009 to more than 80,000 hectares of land in Northern Ireland, including the Curraghinalt gold deposit. This week it announced that it had submitted the planning application and secured an extra $78.25 million in funding from Orion Mine Finance Group and Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd, two big North American mine finance firms. The application is for Dalradian to run the proposed mine for an initial 20 years, though the company says it has the potential to produce gold for decades longer.
2 min read · 27 November 2017
Renova Energia SA’s board has approved Brookfield Asset Management Inc’s proposal to acquire a controlling stake in the Brazilian renewable energy company for 1.4 billion reais (US$433 million), Reuters reported. Brookfield will buy new units, which consist of preferred and common shares, for 6 reais each, according to the filing by Renova stakeholder Light SA. Reuters was first to report the negotiations between Brookfield and Renova in March. The deal, which began with a proposal to acquire a minority stake, evolved into an offer to control the renewable energy company in July. The long-awaited sale is part of an asset divestment program that Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais, which controls Renova, began to pay off debt.
1 min read · 27 November 2017
U.S. media company Meredith Corp said on Sunday it will buy Time Inc, the publisher of People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune magazines, in a $1.84 billion all-cash deal backed by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, Reuters reported.
4 min read · 27 November 2017
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) adjourned a hearing this week of U.S. activist hedge fund Land & Buildings Investment Management’s appeal against a conditional approval for a US$500 million ($636 million) investment in luxury retailer Hudson’s Bay Co from Rhône Capital, Reuters reported. The OSC said the hearing will be held from December 6. Land and Buildings had appealed against the Toronto Stock Exchange’s conditional approval for the Rhône investment. Earlier this month, Hudson’s Bay said it had written consent for the investment from shareholders representing well over 50 percent of its outstanding common shares.
1 min read · 24 November 2017
U.S. oil services company Weatherford International has appointed advisers including Morgan Stanley to sell units starting in the first quarter of 2018, banking sources told Reuters. Sources said the company was looking to offload the artificial lift business, the wellheads and the drilling tools units, and the international pressure pumping assets. Potential bidders for the pressure pumping assets included U.S.-based Superior Energy Services, Canada-based pressure pumper Calfrac Well Services, and private equity-backed energy funds. Calgary's Calfrac last year entered into a $200 million strategic financing partnership with Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo).
2 min read · 24 November 2017
BGL Group, owner of Comparethemarket.com, said this week it would sell a 30 percent stake for about 675 million pounds ($1.14 billion) to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board instead of listing its shares in London, Reuters reported. BHL, the owner of BGL Group, will retain a majority shareholding in the business and the deal is expected to be completed by the end of April 2018, it said. Peterborough, U.K.-based BGL Group distributes insurance and household financial services to 8.5 million customers and runs price comparison websites Comparethemarket.com in Britain and LesFurets.com in France. CPPIB will nominate a non-executive director to the company's board with the deal's closing.
2 min read · 23 November 2017
South African cement producer PPC’s board this week turned its back on a takeover attempt by AfriSam, backed by Canadian firm Fairfax Africa Investments, but PCC said it was still talking to CRH and LafargeHolcim, Reuters reported. PPC has been a takeover target on-and-off for several years, with locally-based AfriSam, Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, Irish building materials company CRH and Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim all interested in it. Fairfax offered to buy 22 percent of PPC in September for 5.75 rand per share, or 2 billion rand (US$144 million), on condition that it was approved by shareholders in order to allow AfriSam’s merger plan. PPC has operations in six countries across Africa.
2 min read · 22 November 2017
Rio Tinto, Canada’s Wealth Minerals and Chinese private equity firm GSR Capital are considering a bid for a stake in Chilean lithium producer SQM (Sociedad Quimica Y Minera de Chile), banking sources told Reuters. Canada’s Potash Corp of Saskatchewan must divest its 32 percent stake in the Chilean company as part of its merger with rival Agrium Inc. Given SQM’s market capitalization of around US$15 billion, according to Reuters data, this would give a value to the stake of US$4.8 billion. SQM said it has received significant interest from potential acquirers as demand rises for lithium, essential for batteries used in electric vehicles.
2 min read · 21 November 2017
Private equity firms are awash in cash, with nearly US$1 trillion of available capital, but the industry is facing internal competition as limited partner investors seek to play a more active role in buyouts, Reuters reported, quoting David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO of the Carlyle Group. The structure and composition of PE funds will change significantly as LPs that would previously have invested in the funds increasingly branch out into arranging buyouts themselves, Rubenstein said. He predicted that sovereign wealth funds will replace U.S. public pension funds as the largest source of capital for buyout firms, and said that retail investors will also play a more significant role going forward.
3 min read · 17 November 2017
