Goldman Sachs Group Inc led investment banks advising on mergers and acquisitions in Canada in 2014, a year in which big international oil and gas deals were hot before oil prices turned cold, Reuters reported. According to data released by Thomson Reuters, the total value of M&A deals in Canada in 2014 jumped to US$203.1 billion from US$147.2 billion in 2013, with Goldman and its international peers enjoying a banner year.
Brookfield Asset Management is in the market raising its fourth middle-market focused private equity fund targeting US$3.5 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the situation and a fundraising document seen by peHUB. Brookfield Capital Partners IV will include about US$1 billion from Brookfield, said the source, an LP who has heard the fund pitch.
Canada’s private equity industry is poised to complete a second consecutive year of robust fundraising. Thomson Reuters’ data suggest that buyout, mezzanine and other PE funds have secured more than $14.4 billion in committed capital in 2014. While that’s down slightly from 2013, it represents the second largest annual raise by Canadian funds to date.
Encana Corp will sell some natural gas gathering and compression facilities in British Columbia it owns jointly with a unit of Mitsubishi Corp to Veresen Midstream LP for $412 million plus costs, Reuters reported. Veresen Midstream, a joint venture of Veresen Inc and U.S. private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP, will also invest up to $5 billion to support development in the Montney shale.
Canadian performance company Cirque du Soleil has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc to help in its effort to find a strategic partner, Reuters reported. Cirque du Soleil will appeal to both private equity firms and large media companies that are looking to increase their exposure to live events, one of the fastest growing areas in media and entertainment. A deal may value the company as a whole at US$1.5 billion to US$2.5 billion.
Carlyle Group LP and Warburg Pincus LLC said they would buy Canada's DBRS Ltd, the world's fourth-largest credit rating agency, in partnership with a consortium of Canadian investors including the firm's founder, Reuters reported. Reuters earlier estimated the deal's value at more than US$500 million. DBRS founder and controlling shareholder Walter Schroeder will remain an important investor, the companies said in a statement.
Despite the perils of forecasting what the future may hold for Canadian private equity and venture capital firms, it is perhaps now more important than ever to do so, writes Richard Rémillard in an exclusive article for peHUB Canada. His advice for those professionals who are now thinking about what 2015 may hold: Be prepared!
Fulcrum Capital Partners has wrapped up the first close of its fifth partnership, Fulcrum Capital Partners V LP, securing $180 in committed capital. That’s 60 percent of the way to Fund V’s $300 million target, which the firm expects to reach in the first quarter of 2015. In that event, the new fund would be 55 percent larger than Fulcrum Capital Partners IV LP, which closed at $193 million in 2012.
Kathy Jeramaz-Larson, the Canadian executive director of the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), will step down from the organization as of June 30, 2015. Jeramaz-Larson joined ILPA in January 2007 and led the organization through what has arguably been the most transformative era in the global private equity industry for limited partners.
The battle for the assets cement firms Lafarge and Holcim must sell to get the go-ahead for their merger will likely be between three groups, sources told Reuters. The three groups expected to hand in binding bids by a mid-January deadline include a consortium made up of Blackstone, Cinven and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). The assets are seen fetching about 6 billion euros (US$7.5 billion), the sources said.