Private Equity
Federal Signal Corp (NYSE: FSS) has agreed to acquire Westech Vac Systems Ltd, a manufacturer of high-quality, rugged vacuum trucks based in Nisku, Alberta. No financial terms were disclosed for the all-cash deal, which is expected to close in January. The seller of Westech is Advance Engineered Products Ltd, a Canadian designer and manufacturer of tank truck and trailer equipment. Advance, which obtained creditor protection earlier this year, was acquired in October by Canadian private equity firm Ironbridge Equity Partners. Ironbridge recently confirmed the investment, noting it was made by Ironbridge Equity Partners II LP, which raised $154 million in 2014.
3 min read · 22 December 2015
Australia's antitrust regulator said it will consider a watered down version of Canadian infrastructure giant Brookfield Asset Management's US$6.5 billion bid for freight firm Asciano Ltd, reviving the prospect of a deal, Reuters reported. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Brookfield offered to sell one of the target company's rail freight businesses and one of its own coal terminals to ease concerns that the buyout would give it too much market dominance. The move is a blow to rival Australian bidder Qube Holdings Ltd.
2 min read · 22 December 2015
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has deployed a further US$1 billion in equity to the Goodman China Logistics Partnership, which owns and develops logistics assets in Mainland China. Goodman Group, CPPIB's partner in the venture, has also committed a further US$250 million. CPPIB and Goodman, which began investing together in 2009, said the partnership has continued to see strong demand in China's core logistics markets, including in Shanghai and Beijing. Separately, it was announced that the partnership will buy nine projects valued at US$650 million from Goodman.
3 min read · 22 December 2015
North American Palladium Ltd (NAP) (TSX: PDL), a Canadian precious metals producer, has secured US$25 million from its majority owner, Brookfield Asset Management. The Toronto-based company also extended its US$60 million revolving operating line of credit by two additional years. The money from both sources will be used to fund working capital and capital expenditures for NAP's Lac des Iles palladium mine in Ontario. In August, Brookfield's private equity group completed the recapitalization of NAP, a deal that provided Brookfield with 92 percent of the company's outstanding common shares.
4 min read · 21 December 2015
KODA Distribution Group (KDG), which bought Unipex Solutions Canada Inc earlier this year, has been sold to Azelis Group, a Belgian specialty chemicals distributor. No financial terms were disclosed. U.S.-based KDG was sold to Azelis, a portfolio company of British private equity firm Apax Partners, by Audax Group, a U.S. private equity firm that has backed KDG since 2010. Unipex Solutions, previously a portfolio company of IK Investment Partners, was among KDG's seven add-on acquisitions.
3 min read · 21 December 2015
European telecoms group Altice (ATCA.AS) said it has completed the previously announced purchase of 70 percent of U.S. regional cable company Suddenlink from existing shareholders in a deal worth US$9.1 billion, Reuters reported. U.K.-based private equity firm BC Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which jointly acquired Suddenlink in 2012, retained a 30 percent stake in the company.
1 min read · 21 December 2015
Babson Capital Management said it agented senior secured credit facilities in support of Gryphon Investors' majority investment in The Original Cakerie, a Canadian frozen dessert manufacturer. No financial terms were released. Gryphon, a U.S. private equity firm, announced the deal in November. Babson led a syndication of the senior credit facility, which it said was nearly two times oversubscribed.
3 min read · 21 December 2015
BayBridge Seniors Housing Inc, an affiliate of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), has closed its acquisition of Amica Mature Lifestyles Inc, a Canadian operator of seniors’ retirement residences. The deal, which took Amica private, was valued at about $578 million and will provide BayBridge with 25 luxury seniors' accomodations in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario under the Amica brand. The acquisition was led by Teachers' Private Capital, the private equity investment arm of OTPP.
2 min read · 21 December 2015
Ivanhoé Cambridge and the Blackstone Group have closed their joint acquisition of Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town (PCVST), a private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. No financial terms were disclosed; however, a Bloomberg report previously estimated the deal's value at about US$5.3 billion. Based in Montréal, Ivanhoé is the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
3 min read · 21 December 2015
Creditors of Grupo OAS, the Brazilian engineering business under creditor protection, agreed to sell a 24.4 percent stake in infrastructure company Invepar to Brookfield Asset Management for 1.35 billion reais (US$346 million), Reuters reported. The creditors agreed to sell the stake if Brookfield drops a plan to extend OAS a debtor-in-possession loan, a source said.
2 min read · 21 December 2015
