Private Equity
U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co and Canadian pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec agreed to buy USI Insurance Services from Onex Corp in a US$4.3 billion deal, including debt, Reuters reported. The deal is the latest in a string of mergers in the insurance market, which has not grown quickly enough to support the smaller brokerages. Onex bought USI in 2012 for US$2.3 billion from Goldman Sachs Group's private equity arm. The Toronto-based investor said the sale of USI will generate a gross multiple of invested capital of 3.4 times and a 34 percent gross rate of return.
3 min read · 17 March 2017
Canada Goose Holdings shares surged 40 percent in their trading debut on Thursday after the high-end parka manufacturer raised $340 million in an initial public offering, Reuters reported. The maker of $900 parkas priced the offer above the marketing range on Wednesday, underscoring strong investor appetite for a brand that celebrities have made popular. Founded in a small Toronto warehouse 60 years ago, Canada Goose was acquired by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital in 2013. The IPO valued the company at about $1.8 billion.
3 min read · 16 March 2017
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and property owner Scion Group LLC said their joint venture had bought three U.S. student housing portfolios for about US$1.6 billion, in its second major deal in the United States, Reuters reported. CPPIB and GIC will each own a 45 percent stake in the three portfolios and Scion Group will own the remaining 10 percent. The investors said their joint venture, Scion Student Communities LP, plans to buy more student housing properties in the United States.
1 min read · 16 March 2017
Painted Pony Petroleum Ltd (TSX: PPY) has agreed to buy the issued and outstanding shares of UGR Blair Creek Ltd, an operator of natural gas assets in the Montney resource play in British Columbia, close to Painted Pony's existing asset base. Calgary's Painted Pony agreed to pay about $277 million, including debt, for the business. The seller is Unconventional Resources Canada LP, a portfolio investment of Canadian private equity firm ARC Financial Corp and U.S. private equity firm EnCap Investments. As a result of the deal, ARC and EnCap will become indirect investors in Painted Pony, and will each be able to nominate a member to the board.
10 min read · 16 March 2017
Retailer Canada Goose Holdings Inc said on Wednesday it has priced its initial public offering at $17 (US$12.78) per share, above its target range. The issue will raise $340 million. The maker of luxury winter down jackets had earlier expected to price the offering of 20 million shares at $14 to $16 per share. Canada Goose, which started in a small warehouse in 1957, sold a majority stake in 2013 to Bain Capital LLC, for an undisclosed amount.
1 min read · 16 March 2017
TransCanada Corp plans to build a new crude oil storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma in partnership with M2 Infrastructure LLC, an affiliate of U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Capital, Reuters reported. The facility will be able to store 6.2 million barrels of crude oil and will be located at TransCanada's terminal in Cushing, M2 said, adding TransCanada will operate the storage. The project is expected to begin in late 2017.
1 min read · 15 March 2017
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has invested in Datamars Inc, a Swiss provider of identification solutions to track livestock, companion animals and textiles. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which resulted in the Caisse becoming the company's largest investor, alongside senior management and European private equity firm Columna Capital. Columna, which has backed Datamars since 2011, was said last year to be planning a sale of the business in a deal valued at more than US$306 million. Stéphane Etroy, co-head of direct investment, private equity at the Caisse, said the pension fund will support Datamars' growth strategy.
3 min read · 15 March 2017
ZoomMed Inc (TSX-V: ZMD) has raised $500,000 in debt financing from Persistence Capital Partners, a Canadian healthcare private equity firm. Brossard, Québec-based ZoomMed is the builder and operator of a clinical information exchange platform between physicians and other stakeholders, such as pharmacists, healthcare specialists, pharmaceutical companies and private insurers. It said it will use the loan's proceeds as working capital.
2 min read · 15 March 2017
Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht SA is close to announcing the sale of its stake in Rio de Janeiro's international airport to Canadian pension fund manager PSP Investments, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The sale of Odebrecht's 60 percent stake in Rio de Janeiro's airport operator RioGaleão is expected to bring a solution to an impasse over debts with the Brazilian government. RioGaleão, in which Singapore's Changi Airports International also has a stake, needs to pay around 4 billion reais (US$1.26 billion) to the government to maintain rights over the terminal's management, the source said.
2 min read · 15 March 2017
Savanna Energy Services Corp said it accepted a higher offer from fellow Canadian oilfield services provider Western Energy Services Corp, while again rejecting a hostile bid from Total Energy Services Inc, Reuters reported. The new Western Energy offer values Calgary-based Savanna at about $386 million, up from about $348 million earlier. The company is backed by Alberta Investment Management Corp, which last year agreed to provide it with about $219 million in debt and equity financing.
1 min read · 15 March 2017
