Kirk Falconer

Gregg Delcourt has joined Canadian alternative equity firm Alaris Royalty Corp as a senior vice president. Delcourt will lead the firm's Small Cap Investments, a new division established to make investments of up to $20 million in private companies. Alaris President and CEO Steve King said the initiative is the result of strong demand from potential business partners that did not meet the firm's current investment size criteria. He said "the robust and growing nature of our larger dollar sized deal flow" has necessitated a distinct management team "to pursue the small cap opportunities."

Endurance Energy Ltd, a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus, has agreed to buy StonePoint Energy Inc (TSX-V: STO), a Canadian junior oil and gas business. Endurance will acquire all of StonePoint's outstanding common shares for $0.078125 per share in cash. Directors and executive officers of StonePoint and certain investors reflecting about 24 percent of the company's shares have committed to vote for the deal at a special shareholders meeting. Based in Calgary, Endurance is focused on the acquisition and development of natural gas assets in Western Canada. It has been backed by Warburg Pincus since 2012.

WSP Global Inc (TSX: WSP) has bought Faveo Management AS, a Scandinavian provider of project management and specialist services in the areas of infrastructure and energy. The acquisition, the value of which was not disclosed, follows other recent purchases by WSP in the region. Based in Montréal, WSP is a diversified professional services company backed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. This week it also acquired Levelton Consultants Ltd.

One51 plc has agreed to acquire a majority stake in IPL Inc, a Canadian injection-molded plastic products business, for about $280 million. The deal, which will give One51 a 67 percent interest in the company, is being done in partnership with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec. The seller is Canadian private equity firm Novacap, which led the $94.2 million privatization of the Saint-Damien, Québec-based IPL in 2010. In a statement, One51, an Irish environmental services and plastics company, said the purchase will provide it with a platform for growth in North America. The deal is expected to close by the end of July.

Canadian mineral resource company Royal Nickel Corp (TSX: RNX) has agreed to receive $12.4 million from Orion Mine Finance, a private equity firm with offices in New York and other locations. In exchange for the funding, Orion will obtain a 0.75 percent net smelter return royalty in the Dumont Nickel Project, which is located in the Abitibi mining camp near Amos, Québec, as well as 10 million of Royal Nickel's common shares. The company will have the right to repurchase 50 percent of the royalty for US$15 million on the third, fourth or fifth anniversary of closing. Royal Nickel has its headquarters in Toronto.

Teachers' Private Capital, the private equity investment arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, has agreed to acquire the outstanding shares of BluEarth Renewables Inc owned by ARC Financial Corp and minority investors. BluEarth management and employees will keep an ownership stake. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Last November, BluEarth said it had raised over $250 million in equity from ARC, Teachers and other investors. The Calgary-based BluEarth is a renewable power producer focused on the acquisition, development and operation of wind, water and solar projects. Earlier this week, it completed its purchases of solar power assets from Canadian Solar Inc.

Wesfarmers Ltd has agreed to acquire an interest in Quadrant Energy Pty Ltd, a company formed following the sale of Apache Energy Ltd to Brookfield Asset Management and Macquarie Capital for US$2.1 billion in early June. Wesfarmers, an Australian farmers co-operative, will invest US$100 million to obtain a 13.7 percent interest in the company. Based in Perth, Australia, Quadrant is a producer of gas for the domestic market.

Specialty finance firm Crown Capital Partners has launched a process for raising funds via an IPO and a fourth institutional partnership. If the Calgary-based mezzanine provider is successful on both fronts, it may achieve a new hybrid capital pool of over $400 million. That’s more than the $350 million invested in total by Crown Capital in the past 13 years.

U.S. private equity firm Calera Capital has completed the previously announced sale of its majority interest in SterlingBackcheck. The joint buyers were Canadian pension fund manager the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division. The transaction's financial terms were not published. Headquartered in New York, SterlingBackcheck is a provider of background screening services.

Pattern Energy Group Inc (TSX: PEG) has completed its purchase of a one-third equity interest in the 270 megawatt K2 Wind Power Facility in Ontario from Pattern Development. The deal's value was previously disclosed as US$128 million plus an estimated US$218 million in debt. The wind facility, which is co-owned by Samsung Renewable Energy and Capital Power LP, is located in the Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh township of southwestern Ontario. Pattern Energy Group LP, Pattern Energy’s primary shareholder, is backed by U.S. private equity firm Riverstone Holdings.