Private Equity
OPTrust has invested in ACT Commodities, a Dutch trading house active in the global environmental commodities market. The Canadian pension fund invested alongside U.K. private equity firm Three Hills Capital Partners. The deal's value was more than €60 million ($90 million). Founded in 2009, ACT specializes in trading energy commodities related to incentive schemes for meeting environmental compliance and goals. OPTrust President and CEO Hugh O'Reilly said the market ACT focuses on "will grow exponentially with the progressive long-term shift towards clean energy."
3 min read · 30 October 2018
Toronto-based specialty lender Callidus Capital Corp (TSX: CBL) has appointed Patrick Dalton as interim CEO, effective November 5. Dalton has more than 25 years of experience in private credit markets, most recently in several leadership positions at Fifth Street Asset Management. Before then, he was founder, president and CEO of Gordon Brothers Finance Co and held senior executive roles at Apollo Investment Corp and Goldman Sachs. Dalton is taking the new job to help position Callidus for growth and manage the medical leave of CEO Newton Glassman. Glassman is also managing partner of Catalyst Capital Group, Callidus' majority owner.
6 min read · 30 October 2018
Johnson Controls International Plc is nearing a deal to sell its power solutions business, which makes car batteries, to Brookfield Asset Management for between US$13 billion and US$14 billion, sources told Reuters. The transaction would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts this year and allow Johnson Controls to focus on its building technologies and solutions business. Brookfield, a Canadian investment firm, outbid buyout firm Apollo Global Management LLC in an auction for the power solutions unit, the sources said. Brookfield and Johnson Controls could finalize the terms of a deal for the unit, whose batteries are used in about a third of cars globally, as early as this week.
2 min read · 29 October 2018
Montréal-based software modernization company AZUR Group Inc has raised an undisclosed financing led by Mazars Consulting Inc. Desjardins Capital invested in the business as part of the deal, while Investissement Québec (IQ) provided a loan. The funds raised will help accelerate AZUR's growth by supporting its development of custom cloud software, as well as its development and marketing of EFS, a smart treasury management solution. AZUR was founded in 1998 by President and CEO Jean-Louis Lalonde. Desjardins Capital is an affiliate of Canadian financial cooperative Desjardins Group.
4 min read · 29 October 2018
Canadian long-term private equity firm Altas Partners has agreed to buy U.S. commercial-roofing contractor Tecta America Corp, according to a news release. Terms weren’t released for the deal, which is expected to close in Q4 2018. The seller is ONCAP, the mid-market arm of Canadian PE firm Onex Corp. ONCAP acquired Tecta two years ago for US$280 million from Oaktree Capital Management. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, Tecta was created in 2000 with the merger of 10 roofing companies. It represents Altas Partners’ third platform deal this year and the fifth investment of Altas Partners Holdings LP, which raised US$1 billion in 2016.
2 min read · 29 October 2018
Tricor Pacific Capital, which for nearly two decades operated as a North American private equity investor, has returned to the market as a family office. The new Tricor, led by Managing Partner Rod Senft, who co-founded the PE firm in 1996, was officially unveiled this week. Its goal is to invest Senft family and partner capital in food and industrial businesses, as well as real estate projects. The Vancouver family office comes three years after the former Tricor rebranded its fifth institutional fund, Tricor Pacific Capital Partners Fund V, an event that paved the way for the PE firm's successor, Parallel49 Equity.
3 min read · 28 October 2018
Ironbridge Equity Partners has acquired Canada Metal (Pacific) Ltd (CMP), a Delta, British Columbia-based maker and distributor of products serving the recreational marine, commercial marine and industrial markets. Terms weren't released for the deal, which saw Ironbridge, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm, partner with management led by President John Mitchell. Established in 1908, CMP operates six facilities in Canada, the United States, China, Australia and Italy. Ironbridge Partner Jeffrey Murphy said the company's market position provides "an excellent platform for future growth." Ironbridge is investing through Ironbridge Equity Partners III, which raised $238 million in 2016.
2 min read · 26 October 2018
Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp is considering liquidating its U.K. nuclear unit NuGen, sources told Reuters, leaving Britain to seek alternatives for a project that was meant to provide 7 percent of the country’s electricity. The move comes as Toshiba believes talks to sell the unit have dragged on too long, the sources said. Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) was initially the preferred bidder, but lost that status in July. Toshiba then negotiated with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management, but the talks fell through. The NuGen project in Moorside, northwest England, faced setbacks after Toshiba’s nuclear arm Westinghouse went bankrupt last year.
2 min read · 25 October 2018
U.S. private equity firm Charter Oak Equity and Fonds de solidarité FTQ have recapitalized Licaplast Industries Emballages Inc, a Montréal-based vertically-integrated producer of flexible plastic packaging. No financial terms were disclosed. Licaplast, established in 1988 and led by CEO Joseph Nawar, develops and manufactures shrink film, laminated roll stock, pouches, and other products for food and beverage customers in Canada and the United States. Charter Oak Managing Partner Paul Roughan said his firm will support the company's add-on acquisition strategy.
3 min read · 25 October 2018
Unity Technologies, a San Francisco-based real-time 3D development platform, has agreed to acquire Digital Monarch Media (DMM), a Vancouver-based virtual cinematography company. No financial terms were released for the deal, which includes the proprietary technology DMM built on Unity to develop virtual cinematography for feature filmmaking. DMM CEO Wes Potter and CCO Habib Zargarpour, who founded the company in 2014, will join Unity’s film group. Launched in 2003, Unity is backed by Draper Fisher Jurveston, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Partners and other investors.
4 min read · 25 October 2018
