U.S. private investment firm Alinda Capital Partners is seeking buyers for Reliance Comfort LP, a Canadian provider of heating and cooling systems, in a deal that could value the company at $3 billion to $4 billion, sources told Reuters. Alinda has hired Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Goldman Sachs as financial advisers for the sale, the sources said. The sale is seen attracting interest from Canadian pension funds and U.S. private equity firms, added the sources, who declined to be identified as the process is confidential.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc said it would buy one of the two "yieldcos" of bankrupt U.S. solar company SunEdison Inc and take a 51 percent stake in the other, for a total of about US$2.5 billion, Reuters reported. Canada's largest alternative-asset manager will acquire TerraForm Global Inc for about US$787 million and buy 51 percent of Terraform Power Inc for US$1.7 billion. TerraForm Global owns or has contracts to acquire 952 megawatts of wind and solar power in Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia and Uruguay. TerraForm Power owns about 2,967 megawatts of solar and wind assets in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Chile.
U.S. high-end department store chain Neiman Marcus has hired investment bank Lazard Ltd to explore ways to bolster its balance sheet as it seeks relief from a US$4.9 billion debt pile, sources told Reuters. Neiman Marcus is in no immediate risk of bankruptcy, the sources said. However, the move makes it the highest-profile U.S. retailer to turn to a debt restructuring adviser so far this year, as consumers increasingly embrace the internet for shopping. Much of Neiman Marcus' debt load stems from its US$6 billion leveraged buyout in 2013, when its current owners, Ares Management LP and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), acquired it from other private equity firms.
Source Energy Services, a proppant-sourcing and oilfield-logistics company, is seeking to raise $300 million from its recently filed initial public offering, according to the company's updated prospectus. Source, backed by Canadian private equity firm TriWest Capital Partners, said it will price as many as 17.6 million common shares at $17 to $20 per unit. If the IPO's greenshoe option is exercised, it could raise as much as $345 million. The lion's share of the offering’s proceeds will go to Source. It will include a secondary sale by TriWest, which invested in Source in 2013, and other shareholders.
Canada Goose, a designer and maker of luxury outdoor apparel, priced its recently filed initial public offering in Canada and the United States. The company plans to raise as much as $320 million from a sale of 20 million subordinate voting shares at $14 to $16 per unit, according to the updated prospectus. Founded in 1957 in a small Toronto warehouse, Canada Goose has been owned by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital since 2013. The IPO will include a secondary sale by Bain.
Brookfield Asset Management is nearing an accord to buy a 30 percent stake in Renova Energia SA, which would include 800 million reais (US$258 million) in fresh capital for the Brazilian renewable energy company, a source told Reuters. Under terms of the deal, Canada's Brookfield would purchase the 15.7 percent stake that Light Energia SA has in Renova and then pump fresh cash into the company. Last year, Renova struggled with a severe cash crunch. By injecting capital, Brookfield is giving Light a chance to exit the company while diluting the other two members of Renova's controlling bloc.
Toronto-based retail operator YM Inc is preparing to submit an offer for the intellectual property of The Wet Seal LLC, as the 55-year-old U.S. teen retailer grapples with its second bankruptcy in the past two years, a source told Reuters. YM, which owns Canadian chains Stitches, Sirens and Suzy Shier, plans to submit a stalking-horse bid for Wet Seal's IP, the source said. Wet Seal, which is owned by U.S. private equity firm Versa Capital Management, filed for bankruptcy in February with liabilities between US$50 million and US$100 million after it failed to find financing to continue as a going concern.
STEP Energy Services, a Calgary oilfield service company, has priced its recently filed initial public offering. STEP, backed by Canadian energy private equity firm ARC Financial Corp, said in an updated prospectus it planned to sell common shares at $14 to $16 per unit, generating about $200 million in proceeds. That amount may increase to $230 million if a greenshoe option is exercised. More than half the offering's proceeds will go to selling shareholders, including ARC, which holds a controlling stake in the company.
Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust, which last month agreed to be acquired by Starwood Capital Group for about $1.7 billion (US$1.3 billion), has started talks with the U.S. private investment firm about raising the initial bid, sources told Reuters. The move comes days after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services issued a report recommending Milestone unitholders vote against the transaction. Milestone and Starwood could agree on a higher price and make an announcement as soon as early this week, the sources said. Dallas-based Milestone, which went public in Toronto in 2013, owns and manages apartment properties targeting blue-collar workers across the U.S. southeast and southwest.
Tricor Pacific Founders Capital set out two years ago to build a portfolio of food, beverage and consumer-packaged-goods companies. In that time, the Vancouver family office has made big strides toward that goal. Tricor Founders was launched as a partnership among food-industry executive Richard Harris, two of the founders of Tricor Pacific Capital, Rod Senft and Trevor Johnstone, and Derek Senft, Rod’s son. PE Hub Canada sat down with Harris, once dubbed Tricor Founders’ “secret weapon”, to discuss recent deals, the family office’s progress, and where it goes from here.