India's Reliance Communications Ltd is selling a 51 percent stake in its tower assets to Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Group for US$1.65 billion, in a deal that will help cut the phone carrier's huge debt, Reuters reported. The company will use the proceeds of the deal with Brookfield "solely" to repay debt, it said. Controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, Reliance Communications is the most leveraged among listed Indian phone carriers with its US$6.3 billion net debt being more than five times its operating profit.
Former telecommunications equipment company Nortel Networks Ltd reached an agreement with their various business units on Wednesday to divvy up the US$7.3 billion raised from liquidating the failed company, paving the way for pensioners and creditors to get paid after a seven-year wait, Reuters reported. The Ottawa-based company stumbled from ranking among the world's most valuable companies during the 1990s Internet bubble to bankruptcy in 2009 and liquidation.
Brookfield Asset Management, Canada's largest alternative-assets manager, is considering a bid for troubled hockey gear-maker Performance Sports Group Ltd, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Brookfield raised its stake to 13.2 percent in Performance Sports in September after having said it would push for a restructuring and a possible sale. It is now Performance Sports' second largest shareholder after Sagard Capital Partners Management Corp, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Canadian online gambling company Amaya Inc and British bookmaker William Hill Plc said they were in talks to combine in a merger of equals, confirming a Reuters report about the discussions last week. Amaya has received strong buyout interest from other companies in the industry and some private equity firms, the sources said. Amaya, which has a market capitalization of about $3.1 billion, paid US$4.9 billion to acquire the owner and operator of the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands in 2014. GSO Capital Partners LP, the credit arm of Blackstone Group, helped fund the deal and continues to have a minority stake in the company.
Canada Goose Inc, a maker of luxury winter down jackets, is interviewing banks to help prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at as much as US$2 billion, sources told Reuters. An IPO of Toronto-based Canada Goose would demonstrate the explosive growth the company has experienced, following its transition from selling jackets primarily to adventurers on expeditions to shoppers in more than 50 countries. Canada Goose sold a majority stake in 2013 to U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for an undisclosed amount, to help meet its growth ambitions.
Britain's SVG Capital Plc accepted an offer from Goldman Sachs Group Inc and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) on Thursday saying it gave shareholders a better return than a hostile bid from U.S. private equity rival HarbourVest, Reuters reported. SVG said Goldman Sachs and CPPIB would pay about 748 million pounds (US$950 million) for its investment portfolio which would allow it to return 1.06 billion pounds to shareholders once net cash was included.
Concordia International Corp, a Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company, is discussing alternatives to a leveraged buyout that include divesting a minority stake to a private equity firm, sources told Reuters. The sale would raise cash to ease the burden of Concordia's US$3 billion in debt as it faces curbs on drug pricing from governments and companies. The latest round of talks comes after negotiations about selling the company outright failed to produce a deal that would be acceptable to its board, the sources said.
Canada's second-biggest pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec said it had partnered with Indian financial services firm Edelweiss Group to invest up to US$700 million over the next four years in stressed assets and private debt opportunities in India, Reuters reported. Under the deal, Caisse plans to take a 20 percent stake in Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Co, a key unit that purchases bad loans and has about US$4.5 billion in assets under management. It would also sit on EARC's board and the committee that oversees investments.
Penfund, one of Canada’s oldest private equity firms, has wrapped up its fifth mid-market fund, raising $724 million in committed capital with the help of an expanded investor base. Penfund Capital Fund V shot past its original goal of $525 million earlier this year. Last week it was closed above its hard-cap target of $700 million. The fund is the largest in Penfund’s 37-year history, exceeding by 57 percent the $460 million secured by its predecessor in 2012.
Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp has made the best acquisition offer in an auction for Save-A-Lot, the discount grocery U.S. retail chain that Supervalu Inc has been considering divesting, sources told Reuters. The price that Onex is offering could not be learned, but sources have previously indicated that Save-A-Lot could be valued at as much as US$1.8 billion. Supervalu, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, announced its intention to spin off Save-A-Lot a year ago. Reuters reported in December that Supervalu would consider an outright sale of Save-A-Lot after receiving interest from private equity firms.