A funding technique mostly used to help companies build new mines is moving into the mainstream as a way to pay for acquisitions and could help boost industry deal volumes that have fallen for the past three years, Reuters reported. Stream financing, through which miners get cash upfront in exchange for agreeing to sell a fixed percentage of future production at a discounted set price, was part of Yamana Gold Inc's white-knight bid for a 50 percent stake in fellow Canadian gold miner Osisko Mining Corp in April. Yamana's $930 million bid was financed in part by a $275 million stream transaction with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Banyan Capital Partners had an especially active first week of June. On June 2, the Canadian private equity firm officially bid adieu to a long-standing portfolio company, Q’Max Solutions. And a day later, it welcomed a new portfolio entrant, Newcrete Investments. Banyan provided funding to the management buyout that launched Newcrete, the former concrete division of St. John's, Newfoundland-based Pennecon.
Shareholders of Canadian medical isotope supplier Nordion Inc voted on Friday to support a friendly US$805 million takeover offer by U.S.-based Sterigenics International, clearing a major hurdle facing the deal, Reuters reported. More than 76 percent of votes cast by shareholders backed the offer. Sterigenics, a sterilization services provider owned by U.S. private equity firm GTCR LLC, has twice raised its buyout offer for Nordion from its original US$727 million bid in reaction to an unnamed third party's interest in buying the company.
U.S.-based Sterigenics International has sweetened its takeover offer for Nordion Inc, the Canadian medical isotope producer, to US$805 million after a previous bid failed to attract enough shareholder support, Reuters reported. Nordion said the sweetened bid came after it received another unsolicited acquisition proposal from an unnamed third party. Last month, Sterigenics, a sterilization services provider owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC, raised its buyout offer to US$758 million from US$727 million. Nordion said its board has advised its shareholders to approve the latest Sterigenics offer.
Canadian trucking company TransForce Inc said it would buy truckload transport and logistics company Transport America Inc for US$310 million, including debt, from U.S. private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc, Reuters reported. Goldner Hawn acquired the Eagan, Minnesota-based Transport America in 2006. TransForce said the deal, which is expected to close by the end of this month, would be immediately accretive to earnings. The company estimates total annual revenues to be generated by the acquisition at around US$350 million.
Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc raised the cash component of its unsolicited offer for Botox-maker Allergan Inc, but the increased bid fell short of expectations and the stock of both companies fell, Reuters reported. Valeant's sweetened offer on Wednesday, valuing the U.S. firm at US$49.44 billion, also included a contingent value right that could be worth an additional US$7.6 billion. Its previous offer with activist investor Bill Ackman was worth US$47 billion and was spurned by Allergan, which said the Canadian company had overstated possible savings.
Canadian medical isotope supplier Nordion Inc said it would delay the company's shareholders meeting by a week to give it time to try to get more support for a US$758 million takeover offer by U.S.-based Sterigenics International, Reuters reported. An initial proxy vote on the takeover fell short of required shareholder support. Sterigenics, a sterilization services provider owned by private equity firm GTCR LLC, raised its buyout offer to US$758 million earlier in May from US$727 million after Nordion received a rival bid from an unnamed buyer.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the world's biggest dealmakers, said it is hard to find good deals because most assets are fully priced, but it will be patient and focus on emerging markets to find deals that offer long-term value, Reuters reported. CPPIB, which manages Canada's national pension fund, said that its assets rose to a record $219.1 billion at the end of fiscal 2014, as its investment portfolio returned 16.5 percent for the year ended March 31.
The private equity group of Brookfield Asset Management had a memorable 2013. Its accomplishments included portfolio exits that added materially to the larger Brookfield’s financial results last year – the strongest in its history. Two of these deals were recently in the news. A realized exit, the sale of Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging, won Brookfield the Canadian PE industry’s most prestigious award. A planned exit, the sale of Ainsworth Lumber, was instead nixed after prolonged efforts to comply with regulatory requirements.
Canadian pension fund PSP Investments is making a surprise comeback in the race to buy broadcasting masts group TDF's French unit, opening a new episode in a protracted selloff saga, said three sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported. PSP Investments is taking advantage of rival bidder Dering Capital's difficulties in financing its bid, which sources previously said came at about 3.7 billion euros (US$5.07 billion). It is reviving hope among TDF's private equity owners of reaching a deal as they need to raise fresh money to repay TDF's 3.8 billion euro debt pile and avoid a costly restructuring.