Kirk Falconer

In the early weeks of 2014, Eric Margolis, long-time owner of vitamins, minerals and nutrition supplements wholesaler Jamieson Laboratories, sold the Toronto-based business to U.S. private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors. The deal, valued at over $300 million, was at once a succession event and a transition to new owners who are able to assume risk and effectively position the company for its next phase of long-term growth. CCMP managing directors Joe Scharfenberger and Rich Zannino and executive adviser Doug Cahill recently shared the details of their growth strategy for Jamieson with peHUB Canada.

Canadian private equity firm Imperial Capital Group has closed its fifth fund, Imperial Capital Acquisition Fund V, raising $295 million in total. Fund V exceeded the $250 million target set for it, as reported in September by peHUB Canada, and attracted more than 200 Canadian and global high-net worth investors who have committed alongside institutional investors. Imperial's latest fund also raised well over twice the commitments made to its previous fund, closed in 2009. Imperial makes control-stake investments in lower mid-market companies in Canada and the U.S. Enterprises most often have EBITDA in the range of $5 million and $15 million. Many of the firm's deals have been done in healthcare, branded consumer products and business services sectors. Founded in 1989, Imperial has its headquarters in Toronto.

Novacap Technologies has agreed to buy Oxford Networks, a Lewiston, Maine-based provider of end-to-end telecommunications and IT solutions for businesses in New England and other U.S. regions, peHUB Canada has learned. A special meeting of Oxford shareholders last week approved the deal, which is intended to facilitate further expansion of the 113-year old company, and give it the opportunity to launch new product and service offerings. While the acquisition price was not disclosed, one source pegged it at around US$50 million. According to Novacap partner Ted Mocarski, the Oxford deal represents a continuation of its strategy of investing in select U.S. companies that fit the technology investment model it pioneered in Canada. Mocarksi likened Oxford to other telecom transactions recently done by Novacap. For example, last January the firm bought Host.net, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based provider of network infrastructure services focused on cloud computing, co-location and storage. And last May, it acquired Montréal's Fibre Noire, a specialist in fibre optic connectivity services for enterprises.

Bonnefield Financial, a private equity firm that specializes in investing in Canadian farmland, has netted $261 million in the second close of its third partnership, Bonnefield Canadian Farmland LP III. The firm said the close was oversubscribed, and exceeded its original fund-raising target of $200 million. Fund III will focus on providing Canadian farmers with land-lease financing to support their growth and succession plans as well as to help them reduce debt and improve profitability. Last July, Bonnefield completed a major agricultural land deal, acquiring assets in Dufferin County, Ontario from the The Highland Companies. With offices in Ottawa and Toronto, the firm has to date secured around 35,000 acres of farmland for farmers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick.

Canadian private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners has in partnership with company management made an undisclosed majority investment in Landmark Cinemas, a Calgary-based movie exhibition chain with theatres and screens in cities across Western Canada. Concurrent with the investment, TriWest financed the equity for the company's buy of Western Canadian and select Ontario theatres of Empire Theatres. TriWest senior managing director Cody Church said the Empire deal creates the second largest movie exhibition company in Canada and the tenth largest in North America. The Landmark investment closely follows several TriWest deals done in late 2013, including the acquisition of Source Energy Services, the acquisition of Colter Energy, and the acquisition of Triple M Housing. All of these investments we made by TriWest Capital Partners Fund IV, which closed in 2012.

Canadian mid-market private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners has made an undisclosed investment in Source Energy Services (SES), a Calgary-based specialist in proppant sourcing and oilfield logistics. The deal, which was done in partnership with the company's existing shareholders and senior managers, will support the development of SES proppant distribution network, which delivers Wisconsin sand to the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and other basins. The SES investment follows TriWest's acquisition of Triple M Housing, and its acquisition of Colter Energy, and is the fourth investment made to date by TriWest Capital Partners Fund IV, which was closed last year at $350 million.

CPPIB's head of private investments André Bourbonnais talks about the deal environment, the Neiman Marcus transaction, CPPIB's directs versus fund commitment businesses and the institution's big focus on private equity secondaries.

Toronto-based TorQuest Partners recently announced the final close of its third partnership, TorQuest Partners Fund III, at $535 million – one of the largest Canadian private equity funds raised in recent years. For the firm’s senior partners this outcome reflects more than sheer perseverance in a brutal fund-raising climate. It’s also a strong vote of confidence by LPs in the investment strategy pursued for over two decades.

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Carefree Communities Inc., which owns and operates destination RV resorts and senior manufactured housing communities, recently acquired for an undisclosed amount Sherkston Shores RV Resort in Port Colborne, Ontario. Carefree, which now has an aggregate asset value of approximately US$650 million, was formed by U.S. private equity firm Centerbridge Partners, following its June 2013 acquisition of National RV Communities LLC.