Reuters News
Canadian department store owner Hudson’s Bay Co and joint venture partner RioCan REIT have signed a conditional agreement to sell HBC’s flagship store in Vancouver for about $675 million to an Asian buyer, a source told Reuters. The buyer, who owns a closely-held real estate company, is seeking to arrange interim financing from at least one Canadian lender. The deal is expected to close in June. It progresses HBC’s efforts to extract value from its substantial real estate holdings as it battles a retail industry-wide slump and faces investor pressure to lift its share price.
Shareholders of Crescent Point Energy Corp voted to elect the Canadian energy producer’s full slate of directors after a contentious battle with activist investor Cation Capital, Reuters reported. The proxy fight, the biggest in the Canadian energy sector in at least about four years, was closely followed by investors and brought to the forefront new activist investor Cation. Cation, which owns a 0.3 percent stake in Calgary-based Crescent Point, began its public push for change at the company last month. The private investment firm, founded by Sandy Edmonstone, a former deputy head of global oil and gas at Macquarie Capital, called for changes in the board due to share value that was lost in recent years.
Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier Inc has agreed to sell its Toronto aircraft assembly site to a pension fund as part of efforts to raise extra cash under a five-year recovery plan, Reuters reported. The company, whose quarterly results beat estimates for profit by a cent, will make US$635 million ($816 million) gross from the sale to Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Bombardier had said earlier this year it was looking for buyers for the sprawling Downsview property, where it assembles the Q400 and several business jets.
Australian hospital operator Healthscope Ltd said it had received a US$3.1 billion buyout approach from a new but high-profile domestic private equity firm and its consortium partners just four years after listing, Reuters reported. The indicative offer, one of the highest for an Australian company in the past year, is an audacious debut for BGH Capital. AustralianSuper, the country’s second-biggest pension fund investor, is part of BGH’s consortium and has an existing stake of 14 percent in Healthscope. The group also includes Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Singapore’s GIC, according to a separate regulatory filing.
Canadian telecommunications gear maker Mitel Networks Corp is selling itself to an investor group led by U.S. private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners for about US$2 billion ($2.6 billion), Reuters reported. Excluding Ottawa-based Mitel’s net debt, the deal is worth about US$1.34 billion, according to Thomson Reuters calculation. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2018. Terry Matthews, Mitel's co-founder and chairman, said the transaction will provide Mitel with "additional flexibility as a private company to pursue the company’s move-to-the-cloud strategy.”
Canadian gaming company The Stars Group Inc said it had agreed to buy Sky Betting and Gaming from owners European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Sky Plc, in a deal worth US$4.7 billion, Reuters reported. It had been expected that CVC, 80 percent owner of the online betting site Sky Bet, would list the company publicly. But Toronto-based The Stars Group announced a deal that it said would create the world’s largest publicly-listed online gaming business. The deal comprises US$3.6 billion in cash and the rest in newly-issued shares.
Canadian waste management company GFL Environmental Inc said this week a group of investors led by U.K.-based BC Partners, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and others will provide new funding, giving GFL an enterprise value of $5.13 billion, Reuters reported. GFL, whose ‘Green for Life’ slogan is seen across major Canadian cities, said its current CEO Patrick Dovigi will remain in the role. Dovigi will also maintain his ownership in the company, while the new investors will acquire the interests of current partners including U.S.-based HPS Investment Partners, Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III and Canada's Hawthorn Equity Partners.
Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA this week received three binding bids for its gas pipeline network company Transportadora Associada de Gás SA (TAG), sources told Reuters. The bidding groups include one led by Australia’s Macquarie Group and joined by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, among others. All bids were higher than the US$5.2 billion Brookfield Asset Management paid in 2016 for another gas pipeline unit sold by Petrobras. Some of the proposals could be above US$7 billion.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec held a 7.8 percent stake in Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd at the end of last year, according to its annual report, making it the largest independent shareholder of the pipeline company at the centre of a contentious expansion project, Reuters reported. The Caisse said it acquired the stake in the period following Kinder Morgan Canada’s initial public offering last May and before it announced plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 25 percent per dollar invested last October. Kinder Morgan is at the centre of an escalating crisis over a planned $7.4 billion Trans Mountain oil pipeline project that will almost triple the capacity of its line from Alberta to British Columbia.
GrafTech International Ltd raised US$525 million in its U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said, netting owner Brookfield Asset Management a smaller-than-expected windfall, Reuters reported. GrafTech manufactures graphite electrodes used in the production of steel. The underwhelming IPO investor reception illustrates that concerns about the volatility of its business persist. Brookfield acquired GrafTech for around US$1.3 billion, including debt, in 2015, and will receive all of the net proceeds from the IPO.