Private Equity
Canadian Business Growth Fund, a mid-market fund launched this year with the backing of 13 financial institutions, is led by a former buyout pro turned business operator. George Rossolatos, CBGF’s CEO since January, learned the private equity trade while working with Brent Belzberg, one of Bay Street’s most storied investors. Rossolatos was with Belzberg for nearly a decade, first at listed merchant bank Harrowston, sold in 2001 to TD Capital, and then at TorQuest Partners, a firm they co-founded several months later.
3 min read · 26 July 2018
Cambrex Corp (NYSE: CBM) has agreed to acquire Halo Pharma, a dosage form contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO). Cambrex agreed to buy Whippany, New Jersey- and Montréal-based Halo for about US$425 million. The deal is expected to close in Q3 2018. The seller is U.S. private equity firm SK Capital Partners, which made a control investment in Halo in 2015. Cambrex, an East Rutherford, New Jersey-based provider of products and services for the development and commercialization of small molecule therapeutics, said the deal will allow it to enter the CDMO market.
5 min read · 25 July 2018
GGI Solutions has acquired the U.S. membrane switch business of Bergquist Co, an affiliate of German consumer goods group Henkel AG & Co. Terms weren't disclosed. GGI, a Montréal-based designer and maker of human machine interface (HMI) technologies, said the deal creates value for customers, expands its capabilities in the HMI and printed electronics industries, and grows its market position in North America. Founded in 1990, GGI has been backed since 2011 by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. In 2016, the company was acquired by the Caisse, Fonds Manufacturier Québécois, a fund sponsored by the Caisse, and Namakor Holdings.
3 min read · 25 July 2018
Stella Jones International SA, the principal shareholder of Stella-Jones Inc (TSX: SJ), has agreed to sell its remaining interest in the Montréal-based wood products company. The sale will occur through an $876.5 million public offering and private placement. The private placement will see shares sold to British Columbia Investment Management Corp, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, GPI Capital, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and President and CEO Brian McManus. Proceeds to the selling shareholder will total more than $533 million. As a result, the Caisse will hold 10.9 percent of Stella-Jones' outstanding common shares and gain board representation.
7 min read · 24 July 2018
Town & Country Holdings Inc (T&C) has acquired Amalgamated Textiles USA, a Montréal-based supplier of window treatments and hardware. No financial terms were disclosed for the acquisition, which was announced alongside T&C's buy of Home Dynamix LLC, a U.S. wholesaler of floor rugs, mats and bedding. Lakewood, New Jersey-based T&C is the parent of Town & Country Living, a supplier of table linens, kitchen textiles, rugs and other products. The company said the deals add to its product line and expand its retail footprint. T&C was acquired in January by U.S. private equity firm HIG Capital.
5 min read · 24 July 2018
Canadian private investment firm Hillcore Group has acquired a controlling interest in Panels and Pipes Inc, a Timmins, Ontario-based industrial scaffolding and mechanical insulating contractor. No financial terms were released for the deal, which closed on July 12. Founded in 1999 by Jean-Paul Legault, Panels and Pipes primarily services major projects, maintenance and turnaround support activity in the industrial construction sector of Western Canada and Ontario. Panels and Pipes join's Toronto-based Hillcore’s industrial group, which includes Waiward Steel LP and Academy Group.
2 min read · 23 July 2018
Canadian private equity firm Altas Partners has hired David Brent as a partner. Brent joins the firm from U.S. alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management. Working from Apollo's London and New York offices, he focused on sourcing, evaluating and executing private equity opportunities across a range of industries. Brent began his career in the leveraged finance group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Earlier this year, Toronto-based Altas acquired University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences for US$400 million. The deal was the third done so far by Altas Partners Holdings LP, which raised US$1 billion in 2016.
1 min read · 23 July 2018
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has partnered with Boston Properties Inc (NYSE: BXP) in a joint venture to buy Santa Monica Business Park, a Santa Monica, California office and retail business park. The 47-acre property was acquired for about US$627.5 million, including US$11.5 million of seller-funded leasing costs. As part of the joint venture, CPPIB will invest US$147.4 million to obtain a 45 percent interest. Hilary Spann, CPPIB managing director and head of Americas real estate investments, said the deal gives the pension fund "immediate scale" in the West Los Angeles office market.
4 min read · 23 July 2018
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Australia's AMP Capital have agreed to provide an initial US$500 million to Tillman Infrastructure, a U.S. cellular tower and telecommunications infrastructure company. The initial investment will support the construction of new telecommunications towers across the United States. The agreement calls for the Caisse and AMP to invest up to US$1 billion according to future growth needs. New York-based Tillman began construction on its first sites in 2017 and is now building in more than three dozen states.
4 min read · 23 July 2018
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group has secured E.U. antitrust approval to acquire a majority stake in Thomson Reuters’ Financial and Risk unit for US$20 billion, Reuters reported, citing a European Commission statement. “The proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns given the limited market shares of the companies, the fact that a number of competitors will remain in the market post-transaction, and the fact that Blackstone accounts for only a minimal share of the demand for Thomson Reuters F&R’s products,” the Commission said.
1 min read · 23 July 2018
