Australian private equity firm BGH Capital and its partners lobbed a second A$4.1 billion (US$2.9 billion) bid for hospital operator Healthscope Ltd, this time with a top shareholder’s support, Reuters reported. Healthscope rejected as too cheap an identically priced earlier offer from the BGH-led consortium, as well as a higher one from Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management, in May. BGH, which is partnering with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and others, said its repeated offer had the backing of No. 2 shareholder Ellerston Capital. Healthscope is Australia’s second-largest private hospital operator.
Increases in U.S. production, coupled with increased costs and regulatory uncertainty in Canada, have contributed to a general investment decline in the domestic oil and gas sector since the highs of 2014. At the same time, new investment in Canada’s clean energy sector has been relatively stable. In a PE Hub Canada feature article, Torys LLP Partners Stephanie Stimpson and Michael Pedlow and Associate Andrew Cooley look at a range of consolidation and opportunistic M&A energy deals done in Canada in recent months and share their thoughts about what these transactions can tell us about emerging, cross-sector trends.
With competition for quality assets remaining strong in Canadian M&A markets, private equity funds face challenges in deploying unfunded capital and the volume of sponsor-to-sponsor deals continues to rise. In a PE Hub Canada feature article, Torys LLP Partners Guy Berman, Laurie Duke and Stefan Stauder and Associate Brett Saulnier note that sponsor-to-sponsor deals generally move more quickly and with more intensity than transactions involving a strategic buyer and/or seller. They discuss a few of the unique dynamics of these deals as well as several factors that are key to ensuring a smooth and successful process.
U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Group has quit a takeover battle for Australian office-block owner Investa Office Fund after it was gazumped by Canadian landlord Oxford Properties Group’s A$3.35 billion (US$2.4 billion) bid, Reuters reported. Blackstone told Investa it would not match the offer, all but handing the sought-after target to Oxford as office rents boom, especially in Sydney where Investa’s 20 towers are concentrated. Oxford’s offer will be voted on by shareholders at a meeting to be scheduled in December. Oxford invests in and manages real estate assets on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
There’s no question that it’s a sellers’ market. With unprecedented levels of dry powder and debt available for investment, sellers are not only able to garner high valuations, they are also more carefully reviewing management incentives being put forth by potential private equity buyers. PE firms need to ensure they are incentivizing management teams correctly for a number of reasons. In a PE Hub Canada feature article, Lynne Lacoursière, a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, spells out those reasons and discusses the steps PE firms should take to settle compensation as part of a successful transaction.
U.S. hedge fund Livermore Partners is calling for an overhaul of the board at Detour Gold Corp and a strategic review, becoming the second activist to target the Canadian mining company, Reuters reported. Livermore sent a letter to Detour this week, saying the board has failed its shareholders on “numerous governance and operational matters.” The move comes after Paulson & Co asked for Detour’s entire board to be replaced and demanded a formal process to evaluate alternatives. Livermore Managing Director David Neuhauser said Detour needed to a hire a global investment bank to evaluate all strategic options, including a sale or a joint venture with a partner, such as a Chinese miner.
U.S. hedge fund Paulson & Co has rejected proposals from Canadian miner Detour Gold Corp which would have removed its interim CEO in aid of settling a proxy dispute over the company’s future, Reuters reported. The settlement Detour said it had proposed to Paulson on October 9 would have resulted in almost half of its board being refreshed in six weeks, with interim CEO Michael Kenyon stepping down before the next AGM. Paulson, which has called for the company to explore strategic alternatives including a sale, in July called for a special shareholders meeting and nominated eight new directors.
Sagard Credit Partners has secured more than $706 million (US$545 million) in committed capital for its debut debt fund, according to a news release. SCP, part of Sagard Holdings, an affiliate of Canada’s Power Corp, exceeded its original target size of about $648 million (US$500 million) with the help of several institutional investors. SCP said the fund’s hard cap is about $778 million (US$600 million). It is expected to remain open for additional commitments until the end of 2018. SCP, led by Managing Partner and CIO Adam Vigna, formerly Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's head of global principal credit investments, lends directly to mid-market companies, both private and public, in Canada and the United States.
Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group LP, Onex Corp and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have joined forces in a bid to acquire U.S. aluminum products maker Arconic Inc, sources told Reuters. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Arconic’s products, which are made of aluminum, titanium or nickel, are used around the world by aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation and packaging manufacturers. The company, which has a market capitalization of US$10.6 billion and total debt of US$6.3 billion, will decide whether to agree to a sale later this month, the sources said.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Generation Investment Management LLP have agreed to buy a majority stake in U.K.-based fintech firm FNZ in a deal valuing the company at 1.6 billion pounds (US$2.09 billion), Reuters reported. The Caisse and Generation partnership will buy out two-thirds of FNZ owned by U.S. private equity firms General Atlantic and HIG Capital. The FNZ deal is the first of a US$3 billion investment that the Caisse, Canada’s second-largest pension fund, and Generation Investment, co-founded by former U.S. vice president Al Gore, plan to make over the next 8 to 15 years.