Private Equity
Canadian specialty food products company Premium Brands Holdings Corp (TSX: PBH) has acquired Diana's Seafood, a supplier of fresh and frozen seafood products to retail and foodservice customers in the Greater Toronto Area. No financial terms were released. The deal, which comes on the heels of the company's buy of Island City Baking earlier this month, will help it build "Canada's only national seafood distribution network," Premium Brands said. Based in Vancouver, Premium Brands has been a portfolio investment of Canadian private equity firm Pender West Capital Partners since 2005.
3 min read · 08 December 2016
Altice NV, the fourth-biggest cable operator in the United States, said on Thursday it was considering an initial public offering of a minority interest in its U.S. subsidiary Altice USA, Reuters reported. A listing would help Altice's founder, French billionaire Patrick Drahi, expand his budding U.S. cable empire by giving Altice USA public stock that could be used as currency to finance more acquisitions. It would also allow investors, including U.K. private equity firm BC Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to cash out in the future.
2 min read · 08 December 2016
Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced they are undertaking a strategic review of their ownership of HS1 Ltd, the owner and operator of High Speed 1, a U.K. high-speed rail system. The review has been prompted by investment inquiries from third parties, Borealis and Ontario Teachers' said. The pension funds acquired the 30-year concession for the HS1 network for £2.1 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2010. The network comprises the 109 kilometre rail line and stations between London and the Channel Tunnel.
3 min read · 08 December 2016
Leeds Equity Partners LLC is merging four companies to focus exclusively on information and compliance solutions. The New York private equity firm said December 7 that it simultaneously acquired BLR, DecisionHealth, Argosy and CCMI. Financial terms of the deal, which closed this week, weren't announced. UCG Holdings LP of Gaithersburg, Maryland, has sold all its stakes in DecisionHealth, Argosy and CCMI, said Jeffrey Leeds, president and co-founder of Leeds Equity. Argosy is the parent of PE Hub-PE Hub Canada and Buyouts Insider, publisher of this report.
2 min read · 08 December 2016
Institutional investors are increasingly looking for direct deal opportunities. For private equity firms, what does it mean when your investor client becomes your competitor? According to Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt Partners Mary Abbott and John Groenewegen, it means allowing co-investment rights (and accompanying lower fees) in the hope that large limited partners will decide not to invest directly but rather be alongside the fund as a co-investor.
5 min read · 07 December 2016
Israeli furniture maker Keter Group’s acquisition of Italian plastic furniture manufacturer ABM Italia will be backed with a €300 million (US$322 million) leveraged loan, Reuters reported. Keter Group, bought by U.K. private equity firm BC Partners and Canadian pension fund manager PSP Investments earlier this year, agreed to acquire ABM Italia, it was announced this week. The deal was valued at €400 million, sources said.
1 min read · 07 December 2016
Private equity firm Sentient Group has disposed of common shares of Pershimco Resources Inc, a Canadian junior mining company with gold-copper project assets in Panama. Sentient exchanged the shares with those of a new entity called Orla Mining Ltd, created as result of the recently closed merger of Vancouver's Orla with Rouyn-Noranda, Québec's Pershimco. The transaction saw 53.1 percent of the new entity's shares held by former Orla investors, and 46.9 percent held by former Pershimco investors. Sentient, which has offices in the Cayman Islands, Canada and Australia, has backed Pershimco since 2011.
2 min read · 07 December 2016
The field of bidders for SAB Miller's European beer brands being sold by Anheuser-Busch InBev has narrowed after U.S. buyout fund Bain Capital walked away, sources told Reuters. Japanese brewer Asahi Group is seen as a front-runner to buy the brands. The other bidders include a consortium led by Swiss investment firm Jacobs Holding, which is backed by Canada's PSP Investments, which manages pension funds of its armed services and famed Mounties, as well as Czech family office R2G.
2 min read · 06 December 2016
Canadian mid-market private equity firm Yellow Point Equity Partners recently invested in Canadian Appliance Source LP (CAS), a Toronto omni-channel retailer of home appliances. No financial terms were released. Founded in 2008, CAS began life as an e-commerce provider of kitchen and laundry appliances, but now also operates five showrooms in Ontario. Led by CEO Ari Klein, the company plans to use the partnership with Yellow Point to support growth. CAS is the third investment of Yellow Point Equity Partners IV, which raised $150 million in 2015. In July, the fund invested in Foley’s Candies Ltd.
2 min read · 06 December 2016
Acasta Enterprises Inc (TSX: AEF), a Canadian special purpose acquisition corporation, said that Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) has recommended approval of its acquisition of three businesses and its launch as a private equity firm. The deals, announced last month, will see Acasta buy Apollo Health & Beauty Care, JemPak Corp and Stellwagen Finance Co. Acasta estimates the deals will have an aggregate enterprise value of at least $1.1 billion at closing. ISS is quoted as saying "the combined valuation of the initial portfolio and the private equity platform offers a significant upside for the company's public shareholders."
3 min read · 06 December 2016
