Private Equity
U.S. oil and gas company Devon Energy Corp will sell its 50 percent stake in a pipeline in Western Canada for US$1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) to a midstream company backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Reuters reported. Oil prices are yet to fully recover from the slump last year, forcing companies in the sector to sell non-core assets to lower debt and finance new projects. This has given investment firms, including CPPIB, a chance to buy assets at attractive valuations. In the past month, CPPIB has acquired assets from Canadian producers Penn West Petroleum Ltd and Paramount Resources Ltd through companies it holds stake in.
2 min read · 14 July 2016
Wolf Midstream Inc has agreed to acquire a 50 percent ownership interest in Access Pipeline, a system of pipelines that transport blended bitumen and diluent across Alberta, for $1.4 billion. The seller is Devon Energy Corp. The deal follows Wolf's partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, announced last September, to establish a midstream investment vehicle focused on opportunities in Western Canada. The Access Pipeline acquisition, expected to close in the third quarter, will be backed by a CPPIB investment of $825 million and third-party debt financing. Access Pipeline is one of three recent deals involving Canadian energy companies backed by CPPIB.
2 min read · 14 July 2016
A consortium led by Canadian infrastructure investment firm Axium Infrastructure has agreed to acquire a 50 percent ownership interest in the Slate Creek Wind Project. No financial terms were released. The 150 megawatt Slate Creek Wind Project, located in Sumner County, Kansas, began operation in December. With the deal's close, the Axium-led group will co-own the asset with its developer and operator, EDF Renewable Energy. Axium manages dedicated infrastructure funds with $1.5 billion in assets, as well as over $900 million in co-investments.
4 min read · 13 July 2016
Wolf Infrastructure Inc, a Calgary-based midstream oil and gas company backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, is close to buying Devon Energy Corp's 50 percent stake in the Access Pipeline in Western Canada, Reuters reported, citing a Bloomberg story. The deal values Devon's stake in the Access Pipeline at as much as $1.5 billion and could be announced as early as this week, the report said. If the acquisition materialises, it will be the third in the energy sector involving CPPIB in recent weeks.
2 min read · 13 July 2016
Joliette, Québec-based Signature Passion, a maker of artisan breads and rolls, has entered into a partnership with Pragma Capital, a Canadian family office. No financial terms were disclosed. With the deal, Marc-André Pouliot, managing partner of Pragma, has been named the company's president. Additionally, Tom Kaneb, formerly a managing director at Avrio Capital, has been appointed chair of the board. Signature Passion, which was founded in 1982, will use the partnership with Pragma to advance its North American growth plan by accelerating product development and expanding manufacturing capacity.
2 min read · 13 July 2016
Canadian water treatment company Ovivo Inc (TSX: OVI.A, OVI.B) has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of German family office SKion GmbH in partnership with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). The deal, which will take the company private, has an enterprise value of about $185 million, including debt. Upon the acquisition's close, expected in September, SKion will own a 70 percent interest in Ovivo, and CDPQ, a 30 percent interest. The Verreault family, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and other shareholders have agreed to support the deal. Montréal-based Ovivo said the partnership with SKion and CDPQ will support investments in innovation, acquisitions and other priorities.
10 min read · 13 July 2016
Canadian pension fund manager PSP Investments had hired Oliver Duff as managing director of principal debt and credit investments (Europe), to lead a European private debt push, Reuters reported. Duff will start in September in London. PSP, which has $112 billion in assets under management, said it is aiming to deploy about $5.6 billion in private debt financing globally over the next three years.
1 min read · 13 July 2016
U.S. mining private equity firm Resource Capital Funds (RCF) has acquired shares in Canadian Zinc Corp (TSX: CZN). RCF invested $5 million as part of a public offering of common shares and flow-through shares that gave the company total gross proceeds of $10.2 million. With the deal, RCF holds about 16.9 percent of issued and outstanding shares. In a separate statement, Vancouver-based Canadian Zinc said it plans to use the funds raised for feasibility, development and exploration programs related to its Prairie Creek Project, a zinc-lead-silver property in the Northwest Territories, and its properties in Newfoundland.
2 min read · 12 July 2016
Brookfield Asset Management said it had raised US$14 billion for its new global infrastructure fund, giving it a war chest to hunt for assets around the world, Reuters reported. The fund has so far committed to invest more than US$3 billion in assets, including a portfolio of U.S. hydroelectric facilities, a portfolio of Brazilian electricity transmission projects, a Colombian power generation company, a portfolio of Peruvian toll roads, and a U.S. water infrastructure project developer.
1 min read · 12 July 2016
A group that includes shareholders of Essar Global said it signed a letter of intent with a local unit of the United Steelworkers Union to negotiate a deal to buy Canada's Essar Steel Algoma Inc for about US$900 million, Reuters reported. Essar Global said in a statement last month that it did not support a deal to sell Essar Steel Algoma's assets to a consortium formed by U.S. private equity firm KPS Capital Partners. Algoma, bought nearly a decade ago by Indian energy and resources conglomerate Essar Global, had put itself up for sale while operating under creditor protection.
1 min read · 12 July 2016
