Canada's Lundin Mining Corp said it would sell its indirect stake in TF Holdings Ltd to an affiliate of Chinese private-equity firm BHR Partners for about US$1.14 billion in cash, Reuters reported. Bermuda-based TF Holdings owns an 80 percent interest in Tenke Fungurume Mining SA. Lundin owns an indirect 30 percent stake in TF Holdings, resulting in an effective 24 percent interest in Tenke. Tenke Fungurume, in the southern Congolese copper belt, is one of the world's largest copper deposits.
Canada is not worried about competing with the United States to draw private investment in infrastructure, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week, adding that the country's long-term stability is attractive to investors.
Ottawa wants to attract $4 to $5 in private funding for every $1 coming from the public purse and is speaking to sovereign wealth funds and global private equity firms, as well as domestic pension funds. Attendees at an event organized by the Canadian government in collaboration with U.S. investment firm BlackRock included such potential partners as Norway's Norges, the Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore sovereign investor Temasek.
Amaya Inc's former chief executive, David Baazov, has offered to buy the Canadian online gambling company in a deal valued at about $3.48 billion, Reuters reported. Baazov, who already owns about 17.2 percent of the Montréal-based Amaya, including options, said on Monday he made the offer on behalf of a to-be-formed entity led by him. Four funds had committed $3.65 billion to help the new entity buy Amaya. The funds are: Head and Shoulders Global Investment Fund SPC – HS Special Event Segregated Portfolio, Goldenway Capital SPC- Special Event SP, Ferdyne Advisory Inc and KBC Aldini Capital Ltd.
Clearspring Capital Partners has invested in the merger of portfolio company DME Brewing Solutions with a top competitor, a deal the Toronto private equity firm says will reshape the craft-beer-equipment industry. Last month, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island’s DME, acquired by Clearspring in late 2015, combined with Abbotsford, British Columbia’s Newlands Systems. Terms weren’t disclosed. Both companies expanded over a 25-year span with the global rise of craft-brewery startups.
Macy’s Inc said it formed a partnership with Canada's Brookfield Asset Management to look at ways it can cash in on the value of its real estate and raised its full-year sales guidance, helping to send its shares up about 7 percent in early trading, Reuters reported. The department store operator said that Brookfield would have exclusive rights to create a “pre-development plan” for about 50 Macy’s real estate assets, including owned and leased stores and associated land. The partnership, which is for up to two years, is the latest move by Macy’s to squeeze more value from its vast real estate holdings across the United States.
At least six indicative offers have been submitted by industry players and buyout funds for a group of European beer brands being sold by Anheuser-Busch InBev, sources told Reuters. Worth more than 5 billion euros (US$5.5 billion), the brands were put up for sale as part of AB InBev's US$100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller, which closed last month. Among the potential bidders is a consortium that includes Swiss investment firm Jacobs Holding and Canadian pension fund PSP Investments, the sources said.
U.S. private equity investor TPG has agreed to sell its logistics property business P3 Logistics Parks to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC in a deal which values the business at 2.4 billion euros (US$2.65 billion), Reuters reported. The deal was described as the largest European real estate transaction this year and comes as investors seek to exploit a boom in online retailing which is driving warehouse demand. TPG Real Estate and its partner Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real estate investment arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, bought the Prague-based business in 2013 and have grown its portfolio in recent years through a series of add-on acquisitions.
Ottawa will lift foreign investment limits for Canadian airlines to 49 percent from 25 percent, a change that should spur competition and lower fares by encouraging the launch of low-cost airlines, Reuters reported. Although the new rules had not yet taken effect, the government will allow startups Canada Jetlines and Enerjet to seek additional foreign investment immediately. Enerjet is currently in talks with U.S. private equity firm Indigo Partners, while Canada Jetlines is seeking funding from Asian and European investors.
The Canadian government will set up an infrastructure bank and give it access to $35 billion to help fund major projects that might otherwise not get built, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said. Morneau told the House of Commons that the proposed bank, which Ottawa hopes will be up and running next year, would attract as much as $4 to $5 in private capital for every tax dollar invested. The bank, working with institutional investors as well as public and private pension funds, would conclude and execute complex infrastructure deals using loans, loan guarantees and equity investments.
The former chairman of Performance Sports Group Ltd, which has filed for bankruptcy, said in an interview that he is talking with U.S. and Canadian private equity firms about submitting a bid for the company, Reuters reported. Ex-Chairman Graeme Roustan said many private equity firms had approached him to determine next steps. Roustan said he opposes Sagard Capital's US$575 million deal with Performance Sports and intended to ask the U.S. Department of Justice and Canadian competition authorities to investigate.