U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co and Canadian pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec agreed to buy USI Insurance Services from Onex Corp in a US$4.3 billion deal, including debt, Reuters reported. The deal is the latest in a string of mergers in the insurance market, which has not grown quickly enough to support the smaller brokerages. Onex bought USI in 2012 for US$2.3 billion from Goldman Sachs Group's private equity arm. The Toronto-based investor said the sale of USI will generate a gross multiple of invested capital of 3.4 times and a 34 percent gross rate of return.
Canada Goose Holdings shares surged 40 percent in their trading debut on Thursday after the high-end parka manufacturer raised $340 million in an initial public offering, Reuters reported. The maker of $900 parkas priced the offer above the marketing range on Wednesday, underscoring strong investor appetite for a brand that celebrities have made popular. Founded in a small Toronto warehouse 60 years ago, Canada Goose was acquired by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital in 2013. The IPO valued the company at about $1.8 billion.
TransCanada Corp plans to build a new crude oil storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma in partnership with M2 Infrastructure LLC, an affiliate of U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Capital, Reuters reported. The facility will be able to store 6.2 million barrels of crude oil and will be located at TransCanada's terminal in Cushing, M2 said, adding TransCanada will operate the storage. The project is expected to begin in late 2017.
Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht SA is close to announcing the sale of its stake in Rio de Janeiro's international airport to Canadian pension fund manager PSP Investments, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The sale of Odebrecht's 60 percent stake in Rio de Janeiro's airport operator RioGaleão is expected to bring a solution to an impasse over debts with the Brazilian government. RioGaleão, in which Singapore's Changi Airports International also has a stake, needs to pay around 4 billion reais (US$1.26 billion) to the government to maintain rights over the terminal's management, the source said.
Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd LLC said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including changes to its capital structure or a sale of the company, as it seeks relief from its swelling debt pile of US$6.4 billion, Reuters reported. Hudson's Bay Co, owner of the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue retail chains, is in exploratory talks about acquiring the company, sources said. U.S. private equity firm Ares Management LP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board had acquired Dallas-based Neiman Marcus for US$6 billion in 2013.
A consortium of Canadian and Kuwaiti investors has agreed to buy a minority stake in Thames Water from funds managed by Macquarie, ending the Australian group's 11-year investment in Britain's largest water company, Reuters reported. Borealis Infrastructure, infrastructure investment manager for OMERS, and the infrastructure investing arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority are buying a 26 percent stake in Kemble Water Holdings, the holding company of Thames Water. No financial details were disclosed. Thames Water serves 15 million customers across London, the Thames Valley and surrounding areas. It supplies 2.6 billion liters of drinking water per day.
Billionaire investor William Ackman walked away from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc on Monday with a loss of more than US$3 billion as he sold his entire stake in the struggling drug company after trying to rescue it for some 18 months, Reuters reported. The abrupt and unexpected move by the powerful activist investor sent Valeant shares tumbling almost 10 percent in after-hours trading. They have lost 95 percent of their value since mid-2015. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management became one of Valeant's biggest investors in 2015 when it sunk some US$3.2 billion into the company. At its peak the Valeant stake was worth roughly US$4 billion.
U.S. private equity firm Vista Equity Partners said on Monday it would buy Canadian financial technology services provider DH Corp in a deal valued at $4.8 billion (US$3.6 billion), Reuters reported. Vista said it would combine DH with one of its portfolio companies, U.K.-based Misys, a software provider for retail and corporate banking, lending, treasury and capital markets. The acquisition follows DH's appointment of a special committee in December to assess expressions of interest to buy the company.
Canada’s two biggest pension funds have agreed to partner with LOGOS, a real estate logistics operator, to invest in warehouses in Singapore and Indonesia, betting on demand from the rise of e-commerce and a burgeoning middle class in southeast Asia, Reuters reported. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said in a statement it will initially commit US$142 million for an about 48 percent stake in LOGOS Singapore Logistics Venture. It will also commit US$100 million for a stake of about 48 percent in LOGOS Indonesia Logistics Venture. CPPIB and Ivanhoé Cambridge, which is the real estate arm of Canada’s second-largest pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will be equal partners in both joint ventures, the statement said.
French waste and water group Suez has boosted its industrial water treatment business with the 3.2 billion euros (US$3.4 billion) acquisition of GE Water from General Electric, Reuters reported. In an all-cash deal, Suez and Canadian pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec will acquire 100 percent of GE Water's equity and debt through a 70/30 joint venture, to which Suez will contribute its existing industrial water activities. The new business will operate under the Suez brand. Suez Chief Executive Jean-Louis Chaussade told reporters the industrial water market was more important than Suez's traditional municipal water market, because industry accounts for 15-20 percent of global water consumption compared with just 5-8 percent for human consumption in cities.