Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has decided against making further investments in farmland and is open to selling its existing portfolio after reviewing the operations, sources told Reuters. CPPIB began buying farmland in North America in 2012 and has since purchased about 120,000 acres in the United States and a similar amount in Canada. The pension fund bought 115,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland from Assiniboia Farmland LP in 2013 for $128 million and had intended to invest another $500 million in Canadian farmland over a five-year period. However, its plans met with a backlash from some local farmers who believed they would be squeezed out of buying land themselves and feared rising rents.
Business Development Bank of Canada has topped up resources in its private capital operation to address intensifying small-business demand for risk financing. BDC Capital, the bank’s investment arm, today announced $1.8 billion in fresh funding. It will be invested over the next five years in established companies in Canada seeking long-term financing options to back their growth and transition strategies. The commitment, to be overseen by BDC’s Growth and Transition Capital division, represents a 50 percent increase over the $1.2 billion deployed in the past five years.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the country's largest pension fund manager, is exploring opportunities in the financial services, telecoms and logistics space in India as it looks to expand its bets in the South Asian economy, CPPIB Asia Pacific head Suyi Kim told Reuters. CPPIB, which has already poured over $4 billion into real estate and other investments in the country, will expand its eight-member team in India in a measured manner, as it looks boost the share of emerging markets in its overall portfolio, Kim said. Last month, CPPIB raised its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank, India's No. 4 private sector lender, and partnered in buying an interest in mobile masts operator Bharti Infratel.
Nord Anglia Education Inc, a Hong Kong-based operator of international schools, said it would be taken private by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Baring Private Equity Asia in a deal that values the company at US$4.3 billion, including debt, Reuters reported. Baring has a 67 percent stake in Nord Anglia, which operates 43 schools in 15 countries. The deal includes a so-called go-shop period, during which Nord Anglia can evaluate proposals from other buyers for 30 days.
U.S. hedge fund Elliott Capital Advisors disclosed on Monday it has taken a 6.8 percent stake in WS Atkins after the British engineering and construction consultancy business agreed to be bought in a $3.6 billion deal, Reuters reported. Elliott said in a regulatory filing that it had acquired the stake in a contracts-for-difference deal on April 21, the day after Atkins agreed to its acquisition by Canadian construction and engineering group SNC Lavalin. Elliott's stake in Atkins makes it the second-biggest shareholder, Thomson Reuters data showed, just behind asset manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments.
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd (DAE) is acquiring Dublin-based AWAS, the world's tenth biggest aircraft lessor, in a deal that will add over 200 planes to its fleet and more than double the size of its current business, Reuters reported. DAE, controlled by the government of Dubai, signed a definitive agreement to buy AWAS from British financier Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). They did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The sale marks the exit of Terra Firma and CPPIB from AWAS, in which they first put in money in 2006.
Canadian engineering and construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc said it would buy British engineering and consultancy firm WS Atkins Plc for $3.6 billion, firming up an indicative offer it made earlier this month, Reuters reported. The combination creates a global company specializing in professional services and project management with $12.1 billion in revenue. Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), SNC's biggest shareholder, will extend a loan of $1.5 billion to SNC and buy $400 million of equity in the company to help finance the acquisition.
BOS Solutions Holdings, a provider of liquids-solids-separation services, priced its recently filed initial public offering. It is the latest in a series of private equity and venture-backed issues that are helping rally Canada’s IPO market. Calgary’s BOS, owned by Advent International, plans to raise as much as $104 million from the sale of common shares at $11 to $14 per unit, the updated prospectus shows. Advent, which acquired BOS in 2010, will sell some shares via the IPO's greenshoe option. Upon its completion, Advent will remain the majority investor. BOS is the eighth Canadian PE- or VC-backed company to announce or complete a public sale since January.
Canadian grocery and pharmacy retailer Loblaw Cos Ltd said it would sell its gas station business to asset manager Brookfield Business Partners LP for about $540 million, Reuters reported. The deal, which includes Loblaw's 213 retail gas stations and convenience stores adjacent to the gas stations across Canada, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Brookfield Business Partners was spun out of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management last year. The listed vehicle allows Brookfield shareholders to invest directly in the firm's private equity portfolio.
U.K. financial software provider Misys has launched a jumbo US$5.7 billion-equivalent financing backing its merger with Canadian fintech company DH Corp, Reuters reported. The deal will bring much-desired supply to the loan market on both sides of the Atlantic during a period of subdued new issuance and rampant re-pricings. U.S. private equity firm Vista Equity Partners said in March it would buy Toronto-based DH Corp for $4.8 billion and combine it with Misys, which abandoned plans to list on the London stock market in 2016, blaming shaky market conditions.