Canadian power group Northland Power Inc is looking for a new owner, its chief financial officer said, as part of its strategic review begun in July aimed at boosting growth and shareholder value. The Toronto-based company, which operates thermal and renewable energy stations in Canada and Europe, is worth $4.06 billion. CFO Paul Bradley told Reuters the company's range of options include being sold to a private equity firm.
Canadian money manager West Face Capital is looking to raise US$1.5 billion for a new private equity fund, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters. The Toronto-based hedge fund is targeting both U.S. and Canadian investors, the source said. West Face, which is invests in event-oriented opportunities, is best known for taking stakes in struggling companies and pushing for changes.
While U.S. private equity firms are a growing presence in Canada’s mid-market, not that many have taken the step of opening a local office to source deals and keep tabs on portfolio companies. One of the few is Swander Pace Capital (SPC), a specialist in buyouts of lower mid-market consumer products companies. SPC opened a Toronto office seven years ago and hired Principal Valerie Scott to run it. PE Hub Canada sat down with Managing Director Andrew Richards and Scott to talk about SPC’s Canadian investment strategy, deals and the recent close of its sixth fund.
GCT Global Container Terminals Inc, a North American operator of four marine container terminals which could be valued at more than US$4 billion, including debt, has hired investment banks to review its options, sources told Reuters. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), the owner of GCT, has asked Macquarie Group Ltd and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) to examine several potential transactions involving the company, including the sale of a significant equity stake, the sources said. OTPP, which has owned Vancouver-based GCT for a decade, is in the preliminary stages of its deliberations, and there is no certainty that any deal will occur.
Canada's Brookfield Asset Management is close to finalizing the purchase of Brazilian engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA's stake in a water and sewage business after due diligence procedures slowed the transaction for months, sources told Reuters. Brookfield has agreed to buy the 70 percent that Odebrecht SA has in the unit, known as Odebrecht Ambiental SA. The deal will value Odebrecht Ambiental at 5 billion reais (US$1.5 billion), depending on final details and adjustments. An announcement is due within weeks, the sources said.
The province of Ontario said that it has signed an agreement with U.S. private equity firm Bedrock Industries LP to restructure U.S. Steel Canada, but the deal still requires approval from other stakeholders and a Canadian court, Reuters reported. Financial terms were not released. Under the agreement, Bedrock will purchase and continue operating U.S. Steel Canada's plants in Hamilton and Nanticoke, one source said. The company, which has the capacity to produce 2.6 million tons of steel annually, has been in creditor protection since September 2014.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is about to take on one of its toughest investment challenges yet — helping the commuters of Montréal, Reuters reported. Keen to boost returns, Canada's second-biggest pension fund is financing and overseeing the construction of a new 67 kilometre (41.6 miles) public transit system in Montréal , the third largest automated transportation system in the world behind those in Dubai and Vancouver. The venture is a bold move by the Caisse — more familiar with bond prices and rental yields than ticket fares and commuter habits — and one fraught with risks.
A consortium of global and domestic investors agreed to buy Australia's busiest port for a higher-than-expected A$9.7 billion ($7.3 billion), a sign that tough equity markets are fuelling appetite for infrastructure, Reuters reported. Australia's sovereign wealth fund, The Future Fund, and Canada's Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) will each get a fifth of Port of Melbourne following the sale, which is packaged as a 50-year lease. The government investment vehicle of Queensland state (QIC) and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners are the other consortium partners.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said it would buy Ascot, American International Group's Lloyd's of London platform, in a deal valued at about US$1.1 billion, as it pushes to expand its global presence, Reuters reported. The deal, which includes the acquisition of Ascot Underwriting Ltd and Ascot Corporate Name Ltd, will provide "durable cash yield and an attractive scalable investment for the fund," CPPIB was quoted as saying.
U.S. activist investor Engaged Capital reported a 7.5 percent stake in SunOpta Inc and said it had signed a confidentiality agreement with the Canadian organic food company to provide strategic advice, Reuters reported. The move comes as SunOpta faces increasing activist shareholder pressure. U.S. hedge fund Tourbillon Capital pressured SunOpta to explore a sale earlier this year. In July, it was said that Canadian hedge fund West Face Capital had a stake and could push for board and management changes should a sale fail to materialize.