Kinder Morgan Inc has hired investment bank TD Securities to facilitate a potential sale of its Canadian business, which could fetch as much as $2.4 billion, sources told Reuters. Should the move succeed, it would mark the exit of the U.S. pipeline giant from Canada, having closed its sale of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the Canadian government for about $4.5 billion at the end of last month. The bidding for the business is expected to come from midstream companies, private equity firms and infrastructure funds. Kinder Morgan would likely keep the assets if it does not get a good price as they generate solid cash flows.
QEP has agreed to acquire the hard surface and carpet tile distribution business of Canada’s Kraus Group of Cos, according to a news release. Terms weren’t disclosed. U.S.-based QEP said Kraus is seeking approval for the deal under the Companies Creditor’s Arrangement Act in Canada and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The transaction is expected to be completed next month. Kraus, a Waterloo, Ontario-based carpet and flooring maker and distributor, has been backed since 2012 by Hilco Capital, a U.K. private equity firm. Hilco acquired $130 million of Kraus debt and security from a syndicate of secured lenders.
Canadian landlord Oxford Properties Group has sweetened its bid for Australian office owner Investa Office Fund to A$5.60 (US$4.02) per share, escalating a bidding war with U.S. private equity giant Blackstone Group, Reuters reported. Oxford’s new offer, backed by a top Investa shareholder, ICPF, is A$0.10 per share higher and values Investa at A$3.35 billion (US$2.41 billion). It comes just ahead of a meeting scheduled for Monday where Investa shareholders are set to vote on Blackstone’s rival bid. Oxford is the real estate investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
Hudson’s Bay Co and Signa Holding will merge Germany’s Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt to form Europe’s third biggest department store chain as they battle online rivals, Reuters reported. The combined retail company will have annual sales of around 5.4 billion euros (US$6.3 billion). Austria’s Signa will hold a 50.01 percent stake in the new entity, with HBC possessing the rest. HBC bought Kaufhof in 2015, hoping to make it the centre of its European expansion. But the company is battling its own losses and a campaign by U.S. hedge fund Land & Buildings to boost its share price by extracting value from its real estate holdings.
Millions in projected cost-savings at Refinitiv will be a key consideration for investors mulling the US$13.5 billion-equivalent loan and high-yield bond sale financing the buyout of the business, Reuters reported, citing a note from CreditSights. Blackstone Group agreed to buy a 55 percent stake in Thomson Reuters’ Financial & Risk division, which has been renamed Refinitiv, in January. CreditSights said one of the factors investors will consider is the US$650 million in run-rate cost savings expected to be made in the first couple of years, and how realistic that target is. Blackstone’s track record and its success in cutting costs at other companies it owns will be important.
U.S. buyout giant Blackstone Group LP said it was willing to lift its bid for Australian landlord Investa Office Fund to A$3.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) to beat a rival offer from Canada’s Oxford Properties Group, Reuters reported. Blackstone, seemingly set to seal its takeover until Oxford’s last-minute bid this week, wrote to Investa offering A$12 million above Oxford’s price if Investa agreed, among other conditions, to recommend it and lift the deal’s break fee. Investa said in a statement it intends to work to meet the conditions. Oxford invests in and manages real estate assets on behalf of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).
Great-West Lifeco Inc, Canada’s second-biggest insurance company, is exploring the sale of a collection of insurance contacts that could fetch as much as US$2 billion, sources told Reuters. Goldman Sachs Group Inc is arranging the sale process. Among the parties to have shown interest in the policies include other insurance firms and financial companies. Private equity and specialist investment firms have been significant buyers of run-off insurance blocks, believing they can juice the profits from administering such policies by cutting costs.
Penfund, a Canadian provider of junior capital to mid-market companies in North America, has hired Joe Mattina as a partner and head of origination, according to a news release. Mattina joins Penfund from New York alternative-asset manager Apollo Global Management. He was recruited by Apollo in 2013 to establish its Canadian office in Toronto. Mattina has since been responsible for the firm's credit origination locally along with certain coverage roles in the United States. Previously, Mattina was head of leveraged finance and sponsor coverage at Macquarie Canada, a managing director at Fortress Investment Group and a vice president at GE Capital.
Toronto-based Whitehorse Liquidity Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in making preferred equity investments in private equity portfolios, closed its second private equity secondary fund at a hard cap of US$1 billion, according to a press release. Fund II's target was US$800 million. The firm's investor base includes top insurance firms, public and corporate pension plans, family offices, financial institutions and individual investors. Founded in 2015, Whitehorse is led by Managing Partner Yann Robard, a former head of secondaries and co-investments at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Britain’s Royal Mail Plc has bought Canadian parcel delivery company Dicom Canada for $360 million, adding to its growing operations in a number of U.S. states and across Europe, Reuters reported. The acquisition from U.S. private equity firm Wind Point Partners comes as Royal Mail aims to boost revenue share from outside the United Kingdom through its international unit. Dicom Canada, which offers ground-based parcel, freight and logistics services, operates a network of 28 depots and works with partners to provide pan-Canadian logistics services, Royal Mail said, adding the Montréal-based company had posted good revenue and profit growth in recent years.