Private Equity
U.S. private equity firm Riverside Co has made an undisclosed investment in Nustef Foods Ltd, a Mississauga, Ontario-based manufacturer of Italian-inspired pizelle waffle cookies and artisan crackers under the Reko brand. Founded in 1985 by President and CEO Ces Nucci, NuStef has built a customer base in the grocery, mass, club and foodservice channels across the United States and Canada. Riverside Partner Meranee Phing said the firm will focus on expanding Nustef through investments in distribution, product innovation and marketing. This activity will be supported by Riverside Senior Food and Beverage Advisor Richard Lan.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
TerraForm Global Inc, an affiliate of U.S. renewable energy company SunEdison Inc, has entered into an exclusivity agreement with Canada's Brookfield Asset Management to negotiate a potential deal. Before doing so, TerraForm Global said it had received a revised bid from Brookfield. It was proposed that Brookfield would either acquire 100 percent of the company for up to US$4.35 per share or replace SunEdison as the company’s sponsor and buy 50.1 percent of the outstanding shares for up to US$4.25 per share. Earlier this month, Brookfield submitted proposals for buying SunEdison's other affiliate, TerraForm Power Inc.
5 min read · 23 January 2017
Partners Group, a European private equity firm, and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) have agreed to acquire Cerba HealthCare SAS, a Paris-based operator of clinical pathology laboratories. No financial terms were disclosed. The seller is PAI Partners, which acquired a majority stake in the business from IK Investment Partners in 2010. Simon Marc, managing director of private equity (Europe) at PSP Investments, said the pension fund and Partners Group will work with Cerba's management team, led by CEO Catherine Courboillet, to support the company's growth in France and internationally.
5 min read · 23 January 2017
Clairvest Group is seeing a lucrative payday following its sale of a Canadian out-of-home advertising business and the refinancing of a U.S. casino. This month Clairvest sold Cieslok Media, a Toronto operator of large-format digital and static billboards. The sale was preceded by a US$600 million recapitalization of Rivers Casino, a Des Plaines, Illinois, gaming and entertainment complex backed by Clairvest. These two deals, occurring a month apart, brought realized returns of Clairvest Equity Partners IV to 5.4x of invested capital and an IRR of 49 percent.
3 min read · 20 January 2017
Fairfax Financial Holdings is in early talks to sell 25 percent of India's largest private general insurer ICICI Lombard in a deal that could fetch up to US$1 billion, as the Canadian firm looks to cash out and start a new insurance joint venture, sources told Reuters. ICICI Lombard is a joint venture formed in 2001 between ICICI Bank, India's second largest bank, and Fairfax, which is led by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa. Private equity firms, including Blackstone Group and KKR & Co, as well as some Canadian pension funds, have expressed interest in Fairfax's stake, the sources said.
3 min read · 20 January 2017
Canada's MEG Energy Corp is testing the capacity for oil-related loans with a US$1.235bn deal that will be used to refinance debt and is part of a capital restructuring, Reuters reported. The company could open the door for other leveraged energy borrowers to tap the loan market. Access to this pool of money has been largely shut off to the sector over the last year after oil prices started plummeting in 2014. With oil stabilizing, private equity firms may also see an opening and look to pull the trigger on buyout situations with the help from the banks that want their business.
4 min read · 19 January 2017
Nutreco NV has agreed to acquire Hi-Pro Feeds LP, an Okotoks, Alberta-based maker and distributor of high performance animal feed in North America. No financial terms were released for the deal, which is expected to close by 2017's second half. The seller is Canadian private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners, the company's majority owner. Hi-Pro Feeds, which currently serves more than 5,000 customers, was created in 2012 with the management buyout of Viterra Inc's feed products unit. Birch Hill invested in the buyout. Nutreco, a Dutch animal nutrition and aquafeed company, said the acquisition will extend its market presence in Canada and create a new base in the United States.
4 min read · 19 January 2017
IFS has closed its acquisition of Mxi Technologies Ltd, a Canadian provider of maintenance software for the global aviation industry. No financial terms were released for the deal, which was announced in December. It provided an exit to Moelis Capital Partners, a U.S. private equity firm that acquired Ottawa's Mxi in May 2012. Moelis currently co-manages a private equity capital pool with NexPhase Capital. Linköping, Sweden-based IFS, an enterprise applications company, is backed European private equity firm EQT.
2 min read · 19 January 2017
A unit of U.S. private investment firm Starwood Capital Group said it would buy Canada's Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust in a deal valued at about US$2.85 billion, Reuters reported. Milestone Apartments' portfolio consists of 78 multi-family residential properties, comprising 24,061 apartment units, located throughout the Southeast and Southwest United States. The transaction implies an average price of about US$120,000 per apartment unit, the Toronto-based REIT said.
1 min read · 19 January 2017
Avison Young Inc has acquired Hotel Assets Group LLC, an Atlanta, Georgia-based hotel real estate brokerage company. No financial terms were disclosed. With the deal, Toronto-based Avison, a commercial real estate services provider, launched a new hospitality service line that will operate across the United States. Avision, which over the past eight years has grown from 11 to 79 offices, is a portfolio company of Canadian private equity firm Parallel49 Equity. Between 2011 and 2015, it was backed by the firm’s predecessor, Tricor Pacific Capital.
9 min read · 18 January 2017
