Private Equity
U.S. private equity firm SCF Partners has merged four portfolio companies to create a new global energy supply and infrastructure services business. The four companies include SITE Energy Services, a Calgary-based provider of remote access, environmental and infrastructure services to construction and maintenance projects, and Waste Treatment Solutions (WTS), a Nanton, Alberta-based integrated oilfield equipment supplier of combined sewage treatment, dual generator and lighting systems. Taken together, they will form Aberdeen, Scotland's Centurion Group. Each company will continue to operate under its existing brand name.
3 min read · 01 February 2018
Integrated Asset Management Corp (IAM) has provided an $8 million senior loan to Blackstone Industrial Services, a Sherwood Park, Alberta-based equipment service firm focused on critical infrastructure for food production, oil and gas, petrochemicals and the infrastructure industry. The capital infusion will be used to acquire Nuovo Parts, a Surrey, British Columbia-based specialty Italian parts reseller in North America. Based in Toronto, IAM is an alternative asset management firm that invests in real estate and private debt.
2 min read · 01 February 2018
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp and Brookfield Asset Management said this week they do not intend to make an offer for IWG plc, sending shares of the British serviced office provider down more than 20 percent, Reuters reported. IWG, the company behind the Regus brand, which runs offices in about 3,000 locations in more than 1,000 cities, said in December it had received a bid approach from Onex and Brookfield but did not disclose details. Last month, Bloomberg reported the proposed deal's value at about 2.7 billion pounds (US$3.7 billion). IWG confirmed that discussions with Onex and Brookfield had ended and said it remained confident in its prospects as an independent company.
2 min read · 01 February 2018
Canadian private equity firm Fusion Agiletech Partners has acquired Quisitive LLC, a Dallas-based full-service digital technology consulting business. No financial terms were released. The buy will fund investments in blockchain product innovation and acquisitions of IT service companies that support Quisitive’s North American growth strategy over the next two years. With the deal, Fusion Agiletech becomes the parent company of Quisitive and will be led by Mike Reinhart, Quisitive's CEO and president. Reinhart will help steer Toronto-based Fusion Agiletech's plans to go public in Canada in 2018.
3 min read · 01 February 2018
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and French private equity firm Ardian have acquired a "significant" stake in Alvest SAS, a Paris-based developer, producer, distributor and supporter of airport ground support equipment. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller of the interest was Sagard Private Equity Partners, which acquired Alvest in 2015. Established in 2006, Alvest operates 10 factories in the United States, Canada, France and China. Stéphane Etroy, executive vice president and head of private equity at the Caisse, said the Canadian pension fund and Ardian will back the company's future growth in new and existing markets.
4 min read · 01 February 2018
TriWest Capital Partners had an eventful 2017. The Calgary firm, a 20-year veteran of private equity investing in Western Canada’s mid-market, made two new platform investments, did a handful of add-on deals, and closed full or partial exits from three portfolio companies, one of them in a high-profile initial public offering. Additionally, TriWest Capital Partners Fund V, which raised $500 million in 2015, reached its halfway point in deployments. PE Hub Canada sat down with Senior Managing Directors Cody Church and Mick MacBean to discuss recent deals and how TriWest is navigating today's challenging market environment.
5 min read · 31 January 2018
Hudson’s Bay Co, owner of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, is in a good position to go private following the sale of its Lord & Taylor flagship building in New York and an investment from Rhône Capital, activist investor Jonathan Litt wrote in a letter released this week. Management and insiders would need less than $400 million in additional capital to buy the 92 million shares they don’t already own at $18 per share to take it private, Litt said in the letter. The Canadian department store operator, which has been battling seven quarters of losses, agreed in October to sell the Lord & Taylor building to WeWork Cos for US$850 million, with U.S. private equity firm Rhône investing an additional US$500 million as part of the deal. Litt’s Land and Buildings hedge fund, which held a near 5 percent stake in Hudson’s Bay as of July, has been pressing the company to boost its sliding share price by extracting value from its sizeable real estate holdings.
2 min read · 31 January 2018
Fleet Complete, a Toronto-based provider of IoT solutions in the connected commercial vehicle sector, has acquired Ecofleet. No financial terms were disclosed. Headquartered in Denmark, Ecofleet is a fleet telematics provider in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe. Currently, Ecofleet has over 80,000 subscribers across small to medium-sized businesses and large enterprise fleets. Fleet Complete is owned by U.S. private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners. Madison acquired the business in 2014.
4 min read · 31 January 2018
Pinnacle Renewable Holdings Inc, a Richmond, British Columbia-based industrial wood pellet maker and distributor, has filed a final prospectus with Canadian securities regulators for an initial public offering. The company is seeking to raise $150 million, or about $172 million if the greenshoe option is fully exercised. Pinnacle previously targeted as much as $200 million, including the greenshoe option. The prospectus in its final form no longer identifies ONCAP, the mid-market private equity arm of Onex Corp, among the IPO's selling shareholders, which are targeted to raise as much as $102 million. ONCAP bought a majority stake in Pinnacle in 2011.
3 min read · 31 January 2018
Datawatch Corp (NASDAQ: DWCH) has acquired Angoss Software Corp, a Toronto-based provider of advanced predictive analytics used by more than 300 businesses in 30 countries. Datawatch paid more than $30 million (US$24.5 million) in cash, financed in part by Silicon Valley Bank. Bedford, Massachusetts-based Datawatch called the deal a "transformative acquisition" that will enhance the company's data intelligence offering with expanded capabilities. Angoss, founded in 1984, was taken private in 2013 by U.S. private equity firm Peterson Partners. It has been led since 2016 by President and CEO Brandon Cope, a former Peterson partner.
4 min read · 31 January 2018
