Steve King first saw the business opportunity for Alaris Royalty Corp while working as an investment banker for 12 years and helping middle-market companies raise capital, reports Buyouts' Steve Gelsi. Today, the Calgary-based firm has found its niche by offering entrepreneurs an alternative to floating shares or private equity investment: raising capital through the sale of preferred stock.
U.S. trading firm Freepoint Commodities and a financing group including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) and CPPIB Credit Investments are joining forces to challenge Wall Street's long dominance of funding the raw materials industry, Reuters reported. Merchant banking group MCS Capital Markets LLC, a joint venture between Stone Point Capital, KKR and CPPIB formed in early 2013, says it has completed 50 transactions involving over US$30 billion.
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Brookfield Property Partners have upped their joint bid for Songbird Estates, the owner of London's Canary Wharf financial district, with an offer that values the company at 2.6 billion pounds (US$4.1 billion), Reuters reported. In a separate statement, Brookfield also announced that QIA had acquired a 9 percent stake in it.
The outgoing chief executive of Alberta Investment Management Corp (AIMCo), has said oil sands producers need to cut production costs through new technology as US$70 crude is here to stay, Reuters reported. The AIMCo head urged the energy industry to use the slide in prices as an opportunity to invest in unproven technology that will boost productivity.
Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp is in talks to buy a U.K. safety and survival equipment maker from Warburg Pincus for about 450 million pounds (US$704 million), Reuters reported, citing a Bloomberg story. The two private equity firms are negotiating a price for Survitec Group Ltd and a deal is expected before the end of the month.
Shareholders to French energy services group Spie are looking to take a 430 million euro (US$533.3 million) dividend payment as part of a wider 911 million euro debt refinancing, banking sources told Reuters. After taking the dividend payment, Spie's owners, which include private equity firms Ardian, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will still have around 50 percent of equity in the company, sources said.
A 3 billion euro-equivalent (US$3.75 billion) leveraged loan and high yield bond financing backing Canadian buyout firm Onex Corp’s acquisition of Swiss packaging group SIG Combibloc will launch for syndication in January, Reuters reported. Onex announced in November that it would buy SIG for up to 3.57 billion euros (US$4.43 billion).
Telecoms masts group TDF has launched a 175 million euro (US$218.35 million) leveraged loan on Media Broadcast to refinance debt and facilitate a sale of its French unit, Reuters reported. Private equity firms TPG, Ardian, Charterhouse and French state bank Bpifrance agreed in November to sell the asset to Brookfield Infrastructure and its investment partners.
Songbird Estates, the majority owner of London's Canary Wharf, said an upturn in property markets means it is now worth 2.82 billion pounds (US$4.42 billion), more than the takeover offer from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and Brookfield Property Partners, Reuters reported. The company, in which QIA already has a 28.6 percent stake, rejected an initial approach on November 7 from QIA and Brookfield.
Investment in Canada’s buyout and related private equity (PE) market rose sharply in Q3 2014, according to data released by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and research partner Thomson Reuters. Disclosed deal values totaled $19.8 billion in this period, due primarily to the Tim Hortons' acquisition. These results contributed to growth in market activity in the first nine months of the year, with 289 buyout-PE deals securing $26.4 billion invested.