Kirk Falconer
Hub International Ltd has bought the shares of Gamble & Associates Insurance Ltd, a full-service commercial and personal lines brokerage with offices across Southwestern Ontario. The financial details of the transaction were not published. Hub, a global insurance brokerage, said the acquisition doubles its offices in Ontario to 18. Headquartered in Chicago, Hub has been a portfolio company of U.S. private equity firm Hellman & Friedman since 2013.
Canadian private equity firm Novacap is likely to see a strong multiple from its investment in Montréal’s Stingray Digital Group following the company’s successful IPO on Wednesday. Novacap President and Managing Partner Pascal Tremblay told peHUB Canada he expects to see an eight-fold return from a concurrent secondary transaction that sold most of the firm's 29.4 percent interest in Stingray.
ONCAP, the mid-market platform of Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp, has acquired a "substantial portion" of the shares of Ingersoll Tillage Group Inc, a global manufacturer of consumable wear components embedded into agricultural soil preparation and seeding equipment implements. The financial terms of the deal were not dislosed. ONCAP is making the investment in partnership with Canadian entrepreneur Robert “Butch” Mandel, who has ownership interests in steel processing and distribution businesses in addition to his interests in Ingersoll Tillage. The company, which sells products in 80 countries around the world, has its primary offices in Hamilton, Ontario and Legazpi, Spain.
U.S. freight transportation services provider XPO Logistics Inc (NYSE: XPO) has agreed to receive additional equity totaling US$1.26 billion from its institutional backers. The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, which invested US$700 million in XPO last September, intend to increase their holdings in the company. They will be joined in the new funding transaction by 12 other institutional investors. Net proceeds of the deal will help finance XPO's purchase of Norbert Dentressangle SA, a European transport, logistics, and freight business, as well as other acquisitions.
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) and Spanish banking group Banco Santander SA have launched Cubico Sustainable Investments, a firm established to invest in and manage global renewable energy and water infrastructure assets. Owned equally by Ontario Teachers, PSP and Santander, Cubico is led by Santander's former infrastructure investments team. It begins operations with a portfolio of wind, solar and water infrastructure assets previously owned by Santander and valued at more than US$2 billion. Based in London, Cubico will also have offices in Milan, Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
Bell Canada and the Kilmer Group, the private equity firm of Canadian businessman Larry Tanenbaum, have agreed to purchase the Toronto Argonauts Football Club of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The seller in the transaction, the financial details of which were not disclosed, is sports entrepreneur David Braley. Founded in 1873, the Toronto Argonauts are North America's oldest continuously operated professional football club. They have won the CFL championship game 16 times. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of 2015.
Some senior professionals at Tricor Pacific Capital have pooled their financial and operational resources to create a new investment vehicle with a unique market focus. Launched last fall, Tricor Pacific Founders Capital is a long-term niche investor in North America's food and consumer packaged goods sector. And it has a secret weapon: Managing Director Richard Harris.
Canadian private equity firm Serruya Private Equity has acquired Tivoli Audio LLC, an audio products manufacturing company with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Utrecht, the Netherlands. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Levy Capital Partners advised Tivoli on the transaction. Update: Serruya Private Equity, a Markham, Ontario-based firm that oversees the consumer brand investments of the Serruya family, said it will focus on enhancing Tivoli's market share by supporting the development of new products in additional locations around the world.
JSS Medical Research Inc has bought Max Neeman International, a contract research organization (CRO) with headquarters in New Delhi, India, for an undisclosed amount. JSS, a Montréal-based CRO that offers clinical trial, health economics and outcomes research, post-marketing trial and market access solutions, said the acquisition widens its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The deal was supported by an equity investment recently made in the company by Capital Croissance PME, a joint private equity fund of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Capital régional et coopératif Desjardins.
Tricor Pacific Founders Capital, a new private equity firm launched in late 2014, has made its debut investment in Presteve Foods Ltd, a Wheatley, Ontario-based harvester, processor and distributor of wild freshwater fish from the Great Lakes. The transaction's value was not disclosed. Tricor Pacific Founders will hold the investment and subsequent seafood-related investments through Purewater Foods Inc. Founded by Tricor Pacific Capital's Rod Senft and Trevor Johnstone, Richard Harris, and Pender West Capital Partners' Derek Senft, Tricor Pacific Founders is a family firm platform that is focused on making control investments in North American food and other consumer packaged goods businesses.