BC Partners is hoping to participate in the consolidation of the U.S. cable telecoms market by maintaining a stake in Suddenlink after its sale to Altice SA, the private equity fund's co-chairman told Reuters. Both BC Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will retain 12 percent stakes in Suddenlink after selling it in a deal that valued the business at about US$9.1 billion.
Some senior professionals at Tricor Pacific Capital have pooled their financial and operational resources to create a new investment vehicle with a unique market focus. Launched last fall, Tricor Pacific Founders Capital is a long-term niche investor in North America's food and consumer packaged goods sector. And it has a secret weapon: Managing Director Richard Harris.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd said it plans to sell a one-third stake in its British mobile phone business for US$4.3 billion to five investors, a move that will help the Hong Kong ports-to-telecoms group fund its boldest bet in Europe yet, Reuters reported. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec are among the buyers.
Mexican conglomerate Alfa Sab de CV and Harbour Energy Ltd have agreed to acquire Canadian oil and gas company Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp for $6 billion, including debt, sources told Reuters. Harbour Energy is a joint venture between Asian commodity trader Noble Group Ltd and U.S. private equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners.
The private equity group of Brookfield Asset Management has intensified an already active deal pace with its plans to invest in a Canadian infrastructure company and a U.S. graphite electrode producer. This week the Toronto-based firm agreed to recapitalize Armtec Infrastructure and GrafTech International in a pair of transactions with a potential combined value of US$950 million.
Canadian intermediate producer TORC Oil & Gas Ltd is buying light oil assets from Surge Energy Inc in the Canadian Bakken region of southeast Saskatchewan and Manitoba for $430 million, Reuters reported. To help fund the deal, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, already a TORC investor, will invest up to $150 million through a private placement of subscription receipts.
Stingray Digital Group, a business-to-business music provider and media company, said it plans to go public through a Toronto Stock Exchange listing. Sources told Reuters that the company plans to raise about $120 million. Founded in 2007, Stingray is backed by Canadian private equity firm Novacap and Canadian media and technology holding company Telesystem.
Private equity firms are writing bigger equity checks to finance new buyouts as leveraged lending guidelines issued by U.S. regulators curb the amount of debt that banks are willing or able to lend, Reuters reported. Permira and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board provided an equity check of around 50 percent to finance the US$5.3 billion buyout of Informatica, which shows that investors are changing the way they finance deals to suit more sober times.
Brookfield Asset Management said it is raising US$1.1 billion through a new equity issue that will help the alternative asset manager fund some of the deals it is currently eyeing, Reuters reported. The Toronto-based firm that owns a vast portfolio of real estate, energy and infrastructure assets is widely viewed as one of the front runners in a number of ongoing sales processes.
Cirque du Soleil, the ragtag group of street performers that grew into an entertainment colossus, is selling a majority stake to a U.S. private equity fund and its Chinese partner, Reuters reported. The deal to sell to a group led by TPG Capital values the Montréal-based Cirque at about US$1.5 billion. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec will hold a 10 percent interest in the company, while founder Guy Laliberté will keep the remaining 10 percent.