Private Equity
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has invested $200 million in Plusgrade, a Montréal-based provider of ancillary revenue solutions to the global travel industry. The deal, which values Plusgrade at more than $600 million, saw the Caisse acquire a portion of the shares held by U.S. private equity firm TA Associates. TA Associates, which invested in the business in 2015, will continue to be a major shareholder. Founded in 2009 by CEO Ken Harris, Plusgrade's software platform provides upsell solutions, helping travel suppliers in more than 50 countries generate new revenue opportunities. The partnership with the Caisse will support the company's growth plan, which includes entering new markets and expanding the product suite.
4 min read · 28 November 2018
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp has wrapped up its acquisition of KidsFoundation Holdings BV, a Dutch childcare services provider. Onex said it invested about US$172 million ($228 million) in the deal, which was announced in July. No financial terms were previously disclosed. The seller was U.S. private equity firm HIG Capital, which established KidsFoundation in 2014. Based in Almere, the Netherlands, KidsFoundation provides daycare and after-school care to more than 30,000 children.
2 min read · 28 November 2018
Corel Corp has agreed to acquire Parallels, a Bellevue, Washington-based provider of cross-platform virtualization and automation software, according to a report by TechCrunch. No financial terms were disclosed in the all-cash deal, the report said. Based in Ottawa, Corel is a graphics, productivity and digital media software provider. It is owned by U.S. private equity firm Vector Capital, which took the company private in 2003 and 2010. Founded in 1999, Parallels is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Maxfield Capital and other investors.
1 min read · 27 November 2018
Canada Goose Holdings Inc (TSX, NYSE: GOOS), a Toronto-based luxury outdoor apparel business, said it intends to offer for sale 10 million subordinate voting shares. The secondary offering, which has not yet been priced, will see the shares sold by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital and other investors. Bain acquired Canada Goose in 2013 and continued as the company's majority shareholder after last year's initial public offering. Bain will hold a 60.5 percent interest following the offering's completion, according to the preliminary prospectus.
3 min read · 27 November 2018
Colombia’s government has teamed up with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and local pension funds to create a 3 trillion peso (US$926 million) private equity fund to invest in domestic infrastructure, Reuters reported. The fund will focus on energy, including renewable energy, transportation, water, basic sanitation, telecommunications and other infrastructure. The Caisse, one of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, will contribute 1.53 trillion pesos ($627 million) and the remainder will come from the state’s National Development Financer (FDN) and local pension funds Colfondos, Old Mutual, Porvenir and Proteccion.
1 min read · 27 November 2018
Tacora Resources Inc has secured US$212 million ($280 million) in private equity and senior secured debt financing to restart the Scully Mine, an iron ore concentrate maker in Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador. The equity investors included Cargill Inc. Tacora's main backer is U.S. private equity firm Proterra Investment Partners. Tacora, which acquired Scully's assets last year, previously raised US$64 million in mining equipment debt financing. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota-based company said it will now begin hiring, commercial contracts and capital projects. Tacora earlier in 2018 launched an initial public offering in Canada intended to raise up to $144 million.
5 min read · 27 November 2018
KEV Group Inc has acquired Technology Resource Associates Inc (TRA), a Wilmington, North Carolina-based school accounting software provider. No financial terms were disclosed. Toronto-based KEV, which operates in the same vertical, said the deal creates a K-12 school cash management and online payments company that serves 16,500 schools in North America and processes more than $3 billion in transactions annually. KEV was founded in 1996 by Evelyn Eagle and Kim Vivian-Downs. In September, the company secured a minority investment from Serent Capital, a U.S. technology and services private equity firm.
3 min read · 26 November 2018
McIntosh Perry Consulting Engineers Ltd has acquired Onstream Engineering Ltd, a Calgary-based provider of engineering, procurement and construction management services to Alberta oil and gas producers. No financial terms were disclosed. McIntosh Perry, a Woodbridge, Ontario-based provider of consulting engineering services and technical solutions, said the acquisition will support the expansion of its oil and gas capabilities in Western Canada. Established in 1972, McIntosh Perry has been backed since 2016 by Signal Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm.
2 min read · 26 November 2018
Pattern Energy Group Inc (TSX, Nasdaq: PEGI) has acquired a 35 megawatt owned interest in the Stillwater Wind Facility from Pattern Development. Pattern Energy acquired 51 percent of the class B interests in the Montana wind power facility for about US$23 million. Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), which agreed last year to co-invest US$500 million in projects acquired by Pattern Energy, took 49 percent of the class B interests in Stillwater. The facility commenced commercial operations in October. Pattern Energy Group LP, Pattern Energy’s main shareholder, is backed by U.S. private equity firm Riverstone Holdings.
3 min read · 26 November 2018
Emera Inc has agreed to sell three of its natural gas-fired power plants in New England to Carlyle Group for $780 million (US$590 million), as part of its efforts to cut debt, Reuters reported. This transaction is part of the three-year funding plan that the Canadian energy company introduced during its third-quarter earnings results, said Chief Executive Officer Scott Balfour. The three units, Bridgeport Energy, Tiverton Power and Rumford Power, will be sold to Cogentrix, an affiliate of Carlyle. Halifax-based Emera, which invests in energy generation and transmission, had a debt of $13.9 billion in 2017.
1 min read · 26 November 2018
