Private Equity
Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust said this week it would sell its non-core property assets to privately held Slate Acquisitions Inc for $1.14 billion to reduce debt and focus on core assets, Reuters reported. Cominar said it intends to sell another $1 billion to $1.5 billion worth of properties. The assets being sold to Slate include 97 properties located in the Greater Toronto Area, the Atlantic provinces, and in Western Canada, the company said. The deal is expected to close by the end of March 2018. Slate is a Canadian real estate investment platform.
1 min read · 18 December 2017
OMERS Private Equity and Berkshire Partners have agreed to sell Husky IMS International Ltd, a Canadian supplier of injection molding equipment and services to the global plastics industry. Platinum Equity, a U.S. private equity firm, will buy the company for US$3.85 billion in a deal expected to close in Q2 2018. Bolton, Ontario-based Husky has production facilities in eight countries and service and sales offices in over 100 countries. Led by President and CEO John Galt, it was acquired by OMERS and Berkshire from Onex Corp for US$2.1 billion in 2011. Since then, Husky has grown its earnings by enhancing service, making acquisitions, and developing its product line.
4 min read · 18 December 2017
Canadian private equity firm Ironbridge Equity Partners has bought the assets of Midland Appliance Ltd, a branded home appliances dealer based in Richmond, British Columbia. No financial terms were released for the deal, which includes the affiliated BCH Transport Ltd and Innovative Appliance Distributors Ltd. Founded in 1984, Midland serves a network of developer, builder, designer and architect customers throughout Western Canada. President David Bast said the partnership with Ironbridge will support his company's "next chapter of growth." Midland is the third investment of Ironbridge Equity Partners III, which raised $238 million last year.
2 min read · 18 December 2017
Wood pellets producer Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc, owned by Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp, wants to raise about $175 million (US$136 million) through a Toronto initial public offering, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this week. A successful deal would make it the second-biggest renewable energy IPO in Canada after TransAlta Renewables Inc raised $221 million in 2013, according to Thomson Reuters data. Onex has hired CIBC as the lead underwriter for the IPO, the sources said. ONCAP, a unit of Canadian buyout firm Onex that focuses on the middle market, acquired a majority stake in Richmond, British Columbia-based Pinnacle in May 2011 for $71 million.
1 min read · 15 December 2017
Canadian gold producer Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd has agreed to sell all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Stawell Gold Mines Pty Ltd to Arete Capital Partners, an Australian mining private equity firm. Kirkland agreed to sell Stawell, which holds the Stawell Gold Mine located in the State of Victoria, Australia, for US$6.25 million in cash. The Toronto-based company will retain a 2.5 percent net smelter return royalty on the Stawell mine. The deal is expected to close this month.
2 min read · 15 December 2017
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan may be interested in investing in the Toronto Blue Jays if owner Rogers Communications Inc decides to sell the Canadian baseball team, according to a report by BNN. Ron Mock, president and CEO of Ontario Teachers', this week told BNN the pension fund "may end up looking at" a Blue Jays deal. He noted Ontario Teachers' "capability of analyzing sports franchises" based on past experience with companies like Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). Ontario Teachers' acquired a stake in MLSE in 1994 and sold it to BCE Inc and Rogers for $1.32 billion in 2012. Las week, Rogers CFO Tony Staffieri said the company is considering selling the Blue Jays to generate cash that could be used in its core business, Reuters reported.
1 min read · 15 December 2017
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Brazil’s Votorantim Group’s energy unit Votorantim Energia have formed a joint venture that will buy two operational wind parks in northeastern Brazil, Reuters reported. The wind parks will have a combined generation capacity of 565 megawatts. CPPIB will be initially contributing $272 million (US$213 million) in equity. The joint venture sees an investment of more 3 billion reals (US$897.72 million) in Brazil’s power generation sector and will pursue further acquisitions. Reuters reported in October that Votorantim Energia was in talks with pension and sovereign wealth funds to create a wind, solar and small-scale hydropower electricity joint venture in Brazil.
2 min read · 15 December 2017
Feeney Brothers Utility Services has combined with DDS Companies, a Rochester, New York-based provider of utility, civil, engineering and telecommunications services. The merger of DDS with Feeney Brothers, a Dorchester, Massachusetts-based provider of infrastructure services to the electric, water, and telecommunications industries, will allow the companies to enhance and expand their offerings in seven states. Founded in 1988 by Brendan Feeney and Greg Feeney, Feeney Brothers is backed by Canadian private equity firm CAI Capital Management. CAI invested in the business in 2012.
3 min read · 14 December 2017
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) has agreed to buy the Toronto Argonauts Football Club of the Canadian Football League. No financial terms were released for the deal, which is expected to close in January. The sellers are Bell Canada and the Kilmer Group, a family office led by billionaire investor Larry Tanenbaum. Bell and Kilmer acquired the Argonauts in 2015 from sports entrepreneur David Braley. MLSE, a Toronto-based sports and entertainment company chaired by Tanenbaum, said the deal will lend financial scale and operational synergies to the club. Founded in 1873, the Argonauts won the 105th Grey Cup in November.
3 min read · 14 December 2017
Canada’s market for initial public offerings came roaring back this year from a dismal 2016, due in no small part to new issues backed by private equity and venture capital funds. This year “was a breakthrough year in the IPO market, one of the best of the past decade,” Dean Braunsteiner, national IPO services leader at PwC Canada, told PE Hub Canada. Braunsteiner gives some of the credit to PE and VC funds investing in the wake of the 2007-2009 recession and now on the lookout for liquidity opportunities. This trend, combined with pent-up demand and rising share prices late last year, created a “perfect storm,” he said. Taken together, a dozen Canadian PE- and venture-backed IPOs collected $2.3 billion in 2017.
3 min read · 13 December 2017
