Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure is seen as the front-runner to buy German metering and energy management group Ista for more than 4.5 billion euros (US$5.2 billion), sources told Reuters. CKI made a binding offer for private equity-owned Ista on Tuesday, while two consortiums considered strong contenders refrained from making final bids, the sources said. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which already owns a minority stake in Ista and had tied up with Blackstone Group to buy the whole company, was one of the contenders to hold back, as was a consortium of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Brookfield Asset Management. Owner CVC Capital Partners is expected to choose a buyer this week.
Mining giant Glencore Plc is working with a Canadian pension fund to create a standalone 50:50 joint venture for its portfolio of royalty assets, sources told Reuters. Reuters reported in May that Glencore had hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell its royalty assets, including one for the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, which was expected to fetch up to US$250 million. It is now in talks to create a 50:50 venture for the assets with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. A separate vehicle would help Glencore to secure supplies of copper, zinc and nickel for its trading unit. Both firms would also expand the portfolio by purchasing royalties from other miners’ operations, the sources said.
Canadian pension plan Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has been talking with major U.S. and Canadian private equity firms about selling land registry company Teranet in a deal that could fetch about $3 billion, sources told Reuters. Carlyle Group and KKR & Co are among several buyout firms that have held discussions with Borealis Infrastructure Management, an investment division of OMERS that owns Teranet. In 2008, Borealis acquired then-publicly listed Teranet Income Fund for about $1.5 billion. Teranet Income Fund was spun off by the Ontario government in 2003.
Novacap has closed its fifth mid-market technology fund, securing $840 million with the help of an expanded base of limited partners. Novacap TMT V exceeded by 40 percent its original goal of $600 million, the Montréal private equity firm announced today. The fund is more than twice the size of its predecessor, which raised $380 million in 2014. Fund V is the largest raised in Novacap’s 35-year history. Its close brings assets managed by the firm to $2.25 billion.
Now is an opportune time for owners to sell their companies. Valuations through Q3 2016 are at the highest level since at least 2010. Private equity dry powder is at record levels and PE firms are under pressure to invest. These and other dynamics combine to put sellers in a strong position. To avoid squandering that advantage, Torys LLP's Stefan Stauder and Katherine Spenner offer five points they believe sellers may want to keep in mind to preserve leverage, and to maximize deal proceeds and favourable terms.
Tembec Inc's largest shareholder, Oaktree Capital Management LP, asked other shareholders to reject Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc's deal to buy the Canadian paper and cellulose pulp maker, saying it was a "flawed" sale process, Reuters reported. Oaktree, which owns a 19.9 percent stake in Montréal-based Tembec, said there is a significant value gap between Rayonier's offer price and the "real value" of Tembec. Rayonier, which makes high-value cellulose specialties fibres, said in May it would buy Tembec for US$807 million to expand into packaging and forest products. Oaktree, which last week decided to vote against the transaction, said the deal in its current form is unlikely to close.
Sandvine Corp said it had terminated a deal with U.S. private equity firm Vector Capital and accepted a higher offer from a unit of Francisco Partners and Procera Networks Inc, valuing the Canadian network equipment maker at about $562 million, Reuters reported. U.S. private equity firm Francisco and Procera, a Fremont, California-based networking equipment maker, will pay $4.40 per Sandvine share. Sandvine will be merged with Procera, whose Chief Executive Lyndon Cantor will lead the combined entity. Earlier this month, Sandvine had accepted an amended offer from Vector Capital's unit, Scalar Acquireco Corp, for $4.15 per share, valuing Sandvine at about $529 million.
Two leading Canadian pension funds have agreed to sell their stakes in Britain's High Speed 1 (HS1) rail project to a consortium of funds including HICL Infrastructure and South Korea's National Pension Service, Reuters reported. The deal valued HS1 at more than 3 billion pounds (US$3.9 billion), two sources said. The deal was struck with Borealis Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which have held their stake since 2010. HS1 operates the 109-kilometre high-speed rail line connecting London St Pancras International station with the Channel Tunnel.
Japanese information technology provider NEC Corp is looking at buying British software company Civica for 900 million pounds (US$1.2 billion) and has hired advisors to work on an offer, Reuters reported, citing a Sky News story. An auction for Civica, one of the United Kingdom's biggest public sector software providers, began several weeks ago and has drawn initial offers from three private equity firms: London-based BC Partners, Boston-based Berkshire Partners and the Swiss-based Partners Group, Sky News said. OMERS Private Equity (OPE) acquired Civica from 3i Group in 2013 for 390 million pounds (US$606 million). Reuters reported in May that OPE hired Goldman Sachs to assist with selling the company.
The reluctance of Renova Energia SA's largest shareholder to give up management of the debt-laden Brazilian renewable power company threatens to derail takeover talks with Brookfield Asset Management Inc, sources told Reuters. Power utility Cia Energética de Minas Gerais SA wants to be part of a Brookfield-led turnaround of Renova. The utility known as Cemig owns 34.2 percent of Renova. That stance could sink Brookfield's proposed 1.6 billion-real (US$499 million) cash offer for control. Cemig plans to first sound out interest from distressed debt giant Oaktree Capital Management LP and two other unidentified funds in Renova, the sources said.