Institutional investors say they’re concerned that sponsors are applying too much leverage to companies, and many also believe exit conditions will deteriorate in the next two years. Nevertheless, a healthy percentage plan to raise their target allocation to private equity over the next year, according to the latest edition of Global Private Equity Barometer.
The parent of Porter Airlines is nearing the sale of a passenger terminal it operates at Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport, sources told Reuters. One source said at least two separate bids are expected this week from pension fund manager Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo) and Macquarie Group Ltd. Porter is backed by Edgestone Capital Partners, OMERS Strategic Investments, GEAMI and Dancap Private Equity.
U.S. pet supply retailer PetSmart Inc succumbed to calls from some shareholders for a sale with an agreement to be bought by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners Ltd for US$8.7 billion, Reuters reported. Some of BC Partners' fund investors, including the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, have signed an agreement to buy the company for US$83 per share, PetSmart said.
Thoma Bravo LLC and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan said they would buy U.S. network equipment maker Riverbed Technology Inc for US$3.6 billion, just over a year after the company's biggest shareholder started agitating for a sale, Reuters reported. Riverbed, whose products boost data speeds on networks, said in October it would explore strategic alternatives.
A private equity consortium of Carlyle Group LP and Warburg Pincus LLC is in advanced talks to acquire privately held Canadian credit rating agency DBRS Ltd for more than US$500 million, according to people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported. The auction has also attracted Canadian private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners Management. Toronto-based DBRS is the world's fourth-largest credit rating agency.
Private equity ratcheted up its activity in Canada’s oil patch in 2014, signalling a potentially dramatic shift in the energy industry’s funding sources. To date this year, 46 oil and gas deals have absorbed $6.3 billion in disclosed values, according to Thomson Reuters' data. Pentti Karkkainen, co-founder of and senior strategy advisor to KERN Partners, said that record investment shows private equity is rapidly filling much of the void that has recently been left by traditional public market sources.
A New Jersey bankruptcy court judge approved an unopposed request to terminate the sale of the Revel casino in Atlantic City to Brookfield Asset Management at a hearing on Friday, Reuters reported. Brookfield, which had made a US$110 million bid for the casino, backed out of the deal because it failed to reach an agreement with bondholders who owned Revel's power plant.
Tim Hortons Inc's chief executive will get a $1 million bonus following the $12.64 billion takeover deal by Burger King Worldwide, the Canadian coffee and donut chain said in a regulatory filing, on Monday, Reuters reported. The company said the discretionary bonus for CEO Marc Caira was awarded due to an increased workload as a result of the deal and strong quarterly results that beat market expectations.
The deal activity of Brookfield Asset Management’s private equity group took several directions in 2014, but it appears to mostly focus on North America’s energy industry. If that’s surprising, it’s because only one transaction has been disclosed to date. In fact, Brookfield PE has been active in several deals involving Calgary's Ember Resources and bankrupt U.S. utility Energy Future Holdings (EFH).
The Canadian government has approved Burger King Worldwide's $12.64 billion takeover of coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc, which will create a new company based north of the border, Reuters reported. "The result of this transaction is this new global company ... which will now be based in Canada," Industry Minister James Moore said in a statement. 3G Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, is Burger King's majority owner.