Whitehorse Liquidity Partners has raised nearly US$730 million for its second private equity secondary fund, the firm said in a regulatory filing. The Toronto investor, founded in 2015 by Managing Partner Yann Robard, has so far accounted for more than three-quarters of the fund's target of US$1 billion. Whitehorse also reported raising US$193 million for an affiliated offshore vehicle. Fundraising for Whitehorse Liquidity Partners II comes roughly nine months after the close of the firm’s inaugural fund.
Canadian oil sands producer MEG Energy Corp said this week it had agreed to sell some pipeline and storage assets in Alberta to Wolf Midstream Inc for $1.61 billion to pay down debt and fund its flagship project in Athabasca, Reuters reported. MEG said it would sell its 50 per cent interest in the Access Pipeline for $1.4 billion and its full interest in the 900,000-barrel Stonefell oil storage facility for $210 million. Wolf Midstream, which formed a partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in 2015, said in a release that the acquisition will be funded by a CPPIB investment of up to $800 million and third-party debt financing. The deal gives the Calgary midstream company 100 percent ownership of the Access Pipeline.
Hudson’s Bay Co said this week it has rejected Austrian property and retail group Signa Holding GmbH’s 3 billion euro bid (US$3.7 billion) for Hudson’s Bay’s Kaufhof unit, Germany’s largest retail chain, Reuters reported. The potential deal would have combined Germany’s two largest department store operators: Kaufhof and Signa’s Karstadt. Hudson’s Bay said in November it would review Signa’s offer for Kaufhof, but also called it incomplete, non-binding and unsolicited, with no evidence of financing. The Canadian retailer bolstered its financial position to support Kaufhof, agreeing last year to sell its flagship Lord & Taylor building in New York for US$850 million and bring on a US$500 million investment from U.S. private equity firm Rhône Capital.
TerraForm Power Inc, controlled by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management, has launched a 995 million euro (US$1.2 billion) takeover bid for Spanish renewable energy company Saeta Yield to expand its presence in Western Europe, Reuters reported. Saeta’s main shareholders, Spanish construction company ACS, headed by Real Madrid Chairman Florentino Perez, and U.S. fund Global Infrastructure Partners, which both hold 24 percent stakes, have agreed to sell their holdings. TerraForm said the deal would be financed with a US$400 million equity offering backed by Brookfield. Brookfield last year acquired TerraForm, formerly a unit of U.S. solar company SunEdison Inc, for US$$656 million.
As representation and warranty insurance (R&W) remains white-hot in the U.S. M&A mid-market, a number of additional underwriters have entered an increasingly competitive space. That, in turn, has spurred interesting developments in deal terms in both the United States and Canada in the past year. In a PE Hub Canada feature article, Torys LLP Partner Stefan Stauder and Senior Associate Meghan McKeever share their insights on some key North American trends from the last twelve months that they believe are worth keeping an eye on in 2018.
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp and Brookfield Asset Management said this week they do not intend to make an offer for IWG plc, sending shares of the British serviced office provider down more than 20 percent, Reuters reported. IWG, the company behind the Regus brand, which runs offices in about 3,000 locations in more than 1,000 cities, said in December it had received a bid approach from Onex and Brookfield but did not disclose details. Last month, Bloomberg reported the proposed deal's value at about 2.7 billion pounds (US$3.7 billion). IWG confirmed that discussions with Onex and Brookfield had ended and said it remained confident in its prospects as an independent company.
TriWest Capital Partners had an eventful 2017. The Calgary firm, a 20-year veteran of private equity investing in Western Canada’s mid-market, made two new platform investments, did a handful of add-on deals, and closed full or partial exits from three portfolio companies, one of them in a high-profile initial public offering. Additionally, TriWest Capital Partners Fund V, which raised $500 million in 2015, reached its halfway point in deployments. PE Hub Canada sat down with Senior Managing Directors Cody Church and Mick MacBean to discuss recent deals and how TriWest is navigating today's challenging market environment.
Hudson’s Bay Co, owner of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, is in a good position to go private following the sale of its Lord & Taylor flagship building in New York and an investment from Rhône Capital, activist investor Jonathan Litt wrote in a letter released this week. Management and insiders would need less than $400 million in additional capital to buy the 92 million shares they don’t already own at $18 per share to take it private, Litt said in the letter. The Canadian department store operator, which has been battling seven quarters of losses, agreed in October to sell the Lord & Taylor building to WeWork Cos for US$850 million, with U.S. private equity firm Rhône investing an additional US$500 million as part of the deal. Litt’s Land and Buildings hedge fund, which held a near 5 percent stake in Hudson’s Bay as of July, has been pressing the company to boost its sliding share price by extracting value from its sizeable real estate holdings.
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP catapulted itself into the major leagues of Wall Street’s financial information industry this week with the acquisition of a majority stake in the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters Corp, Reuters reported. The US$20 billion deal is Blackstone’s biggest bet since the financial crisis. Blackstone will acquire a 55 percent stake in a newly hived off F&R business, while Thomson Reuters will retain a 45 percent holding. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore’s GIC will invest alongside Blackstone. The deal will give Thomson Reuters, controlled by Canada’s Thomson family, a formidable ally as it seeks to reinvigorate a business facing challenges from a shrinking and budget-conscious customer base.
Banks are lining up a jumbo leveraged financing of around US$13 billion to back U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group’s potential acquisition of a 55 percent stake in the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters Corp, banking sources told Reuters. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and JP Morgan are expected to lead the debt financing, if the deal goes ahead, with several other banks due to the large size of the underwriting, the sources said. The deal values the Thomson Reuters unit at about US$20 billion. Although the size of the financing is challenging, liquid banks and investors are eager to lend to new buyouts as the strong level of global demand continues to exceed supply.