Private Equity
Canadian private investment firm Hillcore Group has acquired Academy Fabricators Group, an Edmonton-based pipeline and pipe spooling fabricator. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal, which facilitated a buyout of the company by the management team. Ryan Bourke, who founded Academy in 1995, will be turning over the presidency role to Dustin Medori, who is currently a vice president. Hillcore specializes in acquiring industrial businesses in Canada, with a particular emphasis on supporting management buyouts. It bought Abacus Private Equity in 2012.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
Canadian private-markets investor Northleaf Capital Partners has hired Simon Bibeau as an associate with the firm's infrastructure team. Bibeau, formerly an investment banking analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co, will focus on market research, transaction due diligence, execution and asset management. He will operate from Northleaf's Toronto office. In January, Northleaf closed its second OECD-focused infrastructure fund at its $950 million hard-cap target.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd LLC said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including changes to its capital structure or a sale of the company, as it seeks relief from its swelling debt pile of US$6.4 billion, Reuters reported. Hudson's Bay Co, owner of the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue retail chains, is in exploratory talks about acquiring the company, sources said. U.S. private equity firm Ares Management LP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had acquired Dallas-based Neiman Marcus for US$6 billion in 2013.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
Canadian private equity firm Bonnefield Financial has unveiled a new evergreen fund to invest in Canadian farmland. Bonnefield Canadian Farmland Evergreen LP held an initial close in January, raising about $80 million from investors. The fund, which will continue to raise capital throughout 2017, will help expand Bonnefield's portfolio of farm assets through sale-leasebacks with farmers looking to grow or manage succession plans. Portfolio assets are currently located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. Led by President and CEO Tom Eisenhauer, Bonnefield also raises institutional funds. Fund IV secured an initial $60 million last year.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
BOS Solutions Holdings Inc, a Calgary provider of solids and liquid waste separation solutions, has filed with Canadian securities commissions for an initial public offering of its common shares. The IPO, which has not yet been priced, will include a secondary offering by Advent International, a U.S. private equity firm. Advent acquired the company in October 2010. CIBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets are the offering's lead underwriters. Founded in 2002, BOS primarily serves the North American oil and gas industry. It is the fifth Canadian private equity-backed company to announce or close an IPO so far this year.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
A consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors has agreed to buy a minority stake in Thames Water from funds managed by Macquarie, ending the Australian group's 11-year investment in Britain's largest water company, Reuters reported. Borealis Infrastructure, infrastructure investment manager for OMERS, and the infrastructure investing arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority are buying a 26 percent stake in Kemble Water Holdings, the holding company of Thames Water. No financial details were disclosed. Thames Water serves 15 million customers across London, the Thames Valley and surrounding areas. It supplies 2.6 billion liters of drinking water per day.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
Billionaire investor William Ackman walked away from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc on Monday with a loss of more than US$3 billion as he sold his entire stake in the struggling drug company after trying to rescue it for some 18 months, Reuters reported. The abrupt and unexpected move by the powerful activist investor sent Valeant shares tumbling almost 10 percent in after-hours trading. They have lost 95 percent of their value since mid-2015. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management became one of Valeant's biggest investors in 2015 when it sunk some US$3.2 billion into the company. At its peak the Valeant stake was worth roughly US$4 billion.
3 min read · 14 March 2017
Elliott Management's private equity division was among the firms that provided financing to Vista Equity Partners for its $4.8 billion purchase of Canada's DH Corp, sources told Reuters. Evergreen Coast Capital Corp, the private equity group within Elliott that the U.S. hedge fund has expanded in the last year, offered around US$400 million in preferred equity for the deal, the sources said, in the group's first successful deal financing since launching last year.
2 min read · 14 March 2017
OPTrust, which invests on behalf of OPSEU Pension Plan, reported a net six percent return on its investments in 2016, outpacing its benchmarks. As a result, net assets overseen by OPTrust increased to $19 billion at the end of December, up from $18.4 billion at the same time in 2015. Private equity investments returned 20.6 percent in 2016, making it a top-performing asset class. OPTrust said last year's activity included commitments to 10 new private equity investments, totaling $488 million, in North America, Europe and Asia.
3 min read · 13 March 2017
Shareholders to Spanish sports management company Dorna Sports are set to take a third payout from the company in six years as they prepare to launch an €889 million-equivalent (US$948.16 million) dividend recapitalization, banking sources told Reuters. Bridgepoint bought Dorna in 2006 from CVC and in 2013, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board made a 39 percent equity investment in the company. In 2011, Dorna conducted a €420 million dividend recapitalization, followed by a €715 million dividend recapitalization in 2014. “It’s a high performing company, a cash cow,” one of the sources said.
2 min read · 13 March 2017
