Reuters News

Colombia’s government has teamed up with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and local pension funds to create a 3 trillion peso (US$926 million) private equity fund to invest in domestic infrastructure, Reuters reported. The fund will focus on energy, including renewable energy, transportation, water, basic sanitation, telecommunications and other infrastructure. The Caisse, one of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, will contribute 1.53 trillion pesos ($627 million) and the remainder will come from the state’s National Development Financer (FDN) and local pension funds Colfondos, Old Mutual, Porvenir and Proteccion.

Emera Inc has agreed to sell three of its natural gas-fired power plants in New England to Carlyle Group for $780 million (US$590 million), as part of its efforts to cut debt, Reuters reported. This transaction is part of the three-year funding plan that the Canadian energy company introduced during its third-quarter earnings results, said Chief Executive Officer Scott Balfour. The three units, Bridgeport Energy, Tiverton Power and Rumford Power, will be sold to Cogentrix, an affiliate of Carlyle. Halifax-based Emera, which invests in energy generation and transmission, had a debt of $13.9 billion in 2017.

British shopping centre owner Intu Properties has again extended the deadline for a consortium led by Deputy Chairman John Whittaker to make a formal offer for the company, Reuters reported. The owner of Manchester’s Trafford Centre said that Whittaker’s Peel Group and its Saudi Arabian and Canadian partners now have until November 30 to make a firm offer or walk away from Intu. The consortium, which includes Brookfield Asset Management and Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Group, made a preliminary offer in October.

Canadian gaming and entertainment operator Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Ltd has filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. The company set a placeholder amount of US$100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. Vancouver-based Gateway, which recorded total revenue of $484.3 million in the first nine months of 2018, said all shares in the IPO will be sold by shareholders and it does not expect to receive any of the net proceeds from the sale. Its biggest investor is Catalyst Capital Group, a Canadian private equity firm, which acquired Gateway in 2010.

Fairfax Financial Holdings, owned by Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, has acquired an almost 14 percent stake in steelmaker Stelco Holdings for $250.1 million, Reuters reported. The insurer bought the stake in Stelco from Bedrock Industries, a unit of U.S. private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC, which owned 60.1 percent in the company before the sale. Bedrock still holds about 47 percent stake in Stelco. Last year, Hamilton, Ontario-based Stelco went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, raising $230 million.

The U.S. leveraged loan market is looking forward to its first jumbo buyout loan of 2019 after the US$13.2 billion acquisition of Johnson Controls International Plc’s power solutions business by Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Business Partners, Reuters reported. The deal has more debt and less equity than most of 2018’s buyout loans as private equity firms issue increasingly aggressive deals to take advantage of strong investor demand for floating-rate debt in a rising interest rate environment. JP Morgan is leading the dollar-denominated loan for the business, while Barclays will lead the euro-denominated loan, the banker said. Credit Suisse is leading the bond offering, which is expected to be issued in dollars.

Detour Gold Corp has agreed to name two of investor Paulson & Co’s nominees to its board as it looks to end a proxy fight with the U.S. hedge fund that had called for a complete overhaul of the board, Reuters reported. The Canadian gold miner also said its interim CEO would step down as a director. Paulson & Co, which has a 5 percent stake, had also called for the company to explore strategic alternatives, including a sale. Detour has been under attack by other shareholders as well, including U.S. hedge fund Livermore Partners and U.S. investment company Coast Capital Management LP, which have asked for a sale of the company and a rejig of its board.

Johnson Controls International Plc said this week it would sell its power solutions business, which makes car batteries, to Canadian investment firm Brookfield Business Partners LP, in a cash deal valued at US$13.2 billion, Reuters reported. Johnson Controls’ power solutions business makes and distributes about 154 million lead-acid batteries for passenger cars and light trucks annually. The transaction, expected to be completed by June 30, 2019, will see Brookfield Business Partners, the listed vehicle of Brookfield's private equity group, partner with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

BGH Capital, an Australian private equity firm run by three star dealmakers, was rebuffed in its bid to acquire hospital operator Healthscope Ltd, Reuters reported. On Monday, Healthscope said it had picked Brookfield Capital Partners’ sweetened offer that values the business at up to A$4.5 billion (US$3.25 billion). Melbourne-based Healthscope, which had in May snubbed offers from Brookfield and BGH, said Brookfield’s new offer was superior and it would grant the Canadian investment firm exclusive access to due diligence to facilitate a binding offer. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan were partnering with BGH in its bid, Reuters reported last month.