Private Equity
Canadian Solar Inc (Nasdaq: CSIQ) has sold its interest in the Guimarania solar energy project in Brazil to Global Power Generation (GPG), an affiliate of Spanish energy group Gas Natural Fenosa. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed. The 80.6 megawatt peak Guimarania project is under construction and expected to reach commercial operation in the fourth quarter. It is the fourth asset developed and sold in Brazil by Canadian Solar, a Guelph, Ontario-based solar power business. GPG is co-owned by sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).
3 min read · 16 April 2018
Daseke Inc (Nasdaq: DSKE), a U.S. flatbed and specialized transportation business, has agreed to acquire Aveda Transportation and Energy Service Inc (TSX-V: AVE), a Calgary-based oil rig moving company. Daseke agreed to pay $0.90 per share plus the assumption of debt. In addition, up to $0.45 per share in cash contingent consideration will be paid based on EBITDA earnings. Canada's Werklund Family Office, Aveda's largest shareholder, approved the deal, which is expected to close in June. Established in 1994, Aveda owns and operates a fleet of about 430 tractors, 660 trailers and 200 light-duty trucks. It generated $200 million in revenue in 2017.
7 min read · 16 April 2018
U.S. private equity firm Vista Equity Partners Management has agreed to merge two U.S. education technology companies it owns, PowerSchool and PeopleAdmin, with an investment from Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp, valuing the combined business at close to US$3 billion, including debt, sources told Reuters. The deal represents Onex’s biggest investment in the education software sector to date. Last year it hired Laurence Goldberg, a former head of Barclays Plc’s technology, media and telecom investing banking business, to find more such deals.
2 min read · 16 April 2018
The Canadian government is looking into complaints that Restaurant Brands International Inc is not meeting the terms set out by Ottawa when it allowed the takeover of coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons, Reuters reported. Lawyers representing Tim Hortons franchisees sent a letter to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains this month alleging the company has not lived up to commitments including maintaining the rent and royalty structure of Canadian franchises. Restaurant Brands was formed in 2014 when 3G Capital-backed Burger King acquired Tim Hortons for $12.6 billion.
2 min read · 13 April 2018
Canadian specialty food products company Premium Brands Holdings Corp (TSX: PBH) has agreed to buy the assets and operating divisions of Oberto Sausage Co, a Seattle, Washington-based producer of beef jerky and other protein-based snack foods. Premium Brands also said it increased its stake in McLean Meats Inc, a Vancouver-based supplier of organic processed deli meats, to 66.2 percent. The combined deals reflect a purchase price of about $237 million. Vancouver's Premium Brands, which also launched a $150 million bought deal financing, is backed by Pender West Capital Partners.
6 min read · 13 April 2018
Québec City-based lithium company Nemaska Lithium Inc (TSX: NMX) has struck a US$150 million streaming deal with Orion Mine Finance Group, a U.S. mining private equity firm. The transaction forms part of a financing package of up to US$825 million intended for the construction, commissioning, working capital and reserve funds for the company's Whabouchi lithium mine and Shawinigan electrochemical plant. It provides for the sale to Orion of 14.5 percent on all lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate produced. Reuters last week reported on Nemaska's deal with Orion, noting that Orion may also commit debt funding. SoftBank Group Corp has also invested.
4 min read · 13 April 2018
Gases groups Linde and Praxair have picked second-round bidders for a package of planned divestitures to facilitate their planned US$79 billion merger, sources told Reuters. The companies have invited buyout firm CVC Capital Partners, which has tied up with gases group Messer, to make further bids, as well as private equity investors Carlyle Group, Onex Corp and Blackstone Group, the sources said, adding that the investors are expected to bid for all assets on offer.
2 min read · 12 April 2018
Macquarie picked three suitors for a final bidding round for the sale of German metering group Techem, which may be valued at around 4 billion euros (US$4.9 billion), sources told Reuters. A consortium comprising buyout firm CVC Capital Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) as well as another group that includes Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Partners Group has prevailed in the auction, the sources said. Separately, buyout firm Silver Lake Partners is still competing for the asset.
2 min read · 12 April 2018
U.S. private equity firm Union Partners has acquired Maksteel, a steel service centre and processor based in Mississauga, Ontario. No financial terms were released. The seller was the Welded Tube of Canada Group of Companies. Maksteel, established in 1970, provides purchasing, slitting, gauging, levelling, storage, cut-to-length and delivery services to customers in agriculture, steel pipe and tube, automotive, construction, energy and other industries. It has operational capacity exceeding 700,000 tons of material annually on both a toll and resale basis. Maksteel joins Union Partners' North American portfolio of metals and logistics companies.
3 min read · 11 April 2018
European medical laboratory services operator Cerba Healthcare is raising an additional €408 million leveraged loan to back an acquisition of France-based clinical analysis specialist Groupe Bio7, banking sources told Reuters. Cerba announced that it had signed an exclusive agreement to buy Bio7 from French private equity firm Ardian last month. Cerba was last in Europe’s loan market in March 2017 when it raised a €794 million as part of a financing backing its acquisition by European private equity firm Partners Group and Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).
2 min read · 11 April 2018
