GI Partners has hired Laila Tarraf as head of human resources. Prior to GI Partners, Tarraf worked with Peet's Coffee & Tea since 2006 as its first chief people officer and vice president of human resources. She also worked in HR leadership roles at Walmart.com, Webvan and Electronic Arts.
Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, plans to invest up to US$500 million in mixed-use urban communities across Mexico. Ivanhoé's strategy, which already reflects an investment of more than US$100 million in a residential development project in Mexico City, is being done in partnership with U.S. real estate private equity firm Black Creek Group. The two groups will invest jointly in assets through MIRA Companies, an investment and development platform founded by Black Creek in 2007.
Encana Corp (TSX, NYSE: ECA) has agreed to sell most of its Clearwater natural gas assets in Alberta to Ember Resources Inc for around $605 million. The transaction, which involves 1.2 million net acres of land and over 6,800 producing wells, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year. For Ember, a coalbed methane producer, the deal follows a series of acquisitions, including its purchase last year of oil and gas-producing properties owned by Apache Corp. Based in Calgary, Ember was taken private in 2011 by an investor group that included Brookfield Asset Management, ARC Financial Corp and KERN Partners. Since the Apache deal, Brookfield has been its sole shareholder.
Monomoy Capital Partners has closed its buy of Cobra Electronics Corp. at $4.30 per share. Based in Chicago, Cobra Electronics is a provider of communication and navigation products.
Buyout firm Vista Equity Partners is in talks to acquire TransFirst Inc, a payment processing company that has filed for an initial public offering, for as much as $1.5 billion including debt, sources tell Reuters.
Emerging market-focused private equity firm Abraaj Group has bought a majority stake in Liberty Star Consumer Holdings (Libstar), a South African food and personal care product manufacturer, it said on Wednesday.
Trilantic has acquired a minority stake in Highgate Hotels. No financial terms were disclosed. Moelis provided financial advice to Highgate on the transaction. Based in New York City, Highgate is an operator of hotels.
Roseville, Calif-based LifeStorage, which owns, operates and acquires self-storage facilities, has received $120 million in funding from TPG Real Estate.
Windy Cove Energy will receive up to $700 million from Blackstone to buy and develop CO2 enhanced oil recovery assets in the U.S. Based in Houston, Windy Cove is a newly formed oil and gas company.
Quad-C Management has made three majority investments in business services and veterinary sectors. The investments were in McKissock LP, an online provider of state and federally mandated continuing education, Veterinary Specialists of North America, which provides specialty, emergency and general veterinary care at facilities in the mid-Atlantic region, and consulting and placement firm Vaco.