Q-News

December 2009

Private Equity - November 2009

Posted in Private Equity

In terms of financing, November was without a doubt the worst month we have ever reported on in our newsletter.  We came across only two reported financings of private Canadian companies.  The lowest deal total we had ever seen prior to this November was six, which we have seen four times, all during the course of the last ten months.  The two “hotbeds” of activity this November were Ontario and Saskatchewan, with one deal each.  The two financings were both very small transactions, amounting to only $2.4 million in new capital.  The financing amount was also a new low as the weakest figure we had seen prior to this was $7.9 million, which was reported in June of this year.  For comparison’s sake, in November of 2008 we reported eight deals and $72.2 million in new capital, while in November of 2007 we saw 12 transactions and $137.3 million in financing. 

 

No Canadian or American VC firm reported a Canadian investment in November.  This probably helps explain why neither of the deals reported involved a technology company.  The odd thing is that there were actually three different Canadian VC firms this November that reported making an investment in the United States.  All of the investments made by Canadian funds went to companies that had previously received financing from US-based backers.

 

 

 

Financings of Canadian Companies:

 

Almost immediately after closing its first PE fund offering at $36.5 million, Saskatchewan’s Lex Capital Management turned around and invested $1.6 million in Glamis Resources Inc, a junior oil play also based in Saskatchewan.

 

PT Healthcare Solutions raised $760K from private investors.  The company, which is headquartered in Stoney Creek, Ontario, operates healthcare clinics and provides services to nursing homes across four provinces.

 

 

Canadian Investments South of the Border:

 

MMV Financial announced that it has become the new financing partner for California-based Mobile Complete, the developer of the DeviceAnywhere platform for mobile application testing.   The company’s equity backers are Motorola Ventures and Innovacom.

 

Montreal’s iNovia Capital announced that it was participating in the latest financing by Barosense, a California-based company working on treatments for obesity that allow patients to avoid invasive surgical procedures.  The company had already raised US$53 million as of August, 2009.

 

ClickSquared, a Massachusetts-based provider of email and relationship marketing tools, secured a $6.5 million facility in a deal led by MMV Financial that also involved ROI Capital.  The company had previously raised equity capital from ABS Ventures, JMI Equity and Flybridge Capital Partners.

 

 

Fund News

 

As noted above, Regina-based Lex Capital Management raised $36.52 million for its first private equity fund, Lex Capital Partners. The fund will focus on energy, oil, and agriculture sector investments in Western Canada.

 

Birch Hill Equity Partners, a Toronto-based buyout firm, has raised $425 million for its fourth fund.  The firm’s target for the fund is $850 million.

 

The private equity side of TD Bank Financial Group has been spun out to become Northleaf Capital Partners, an independent global private equity firm.  The management company will continue to oversee over $2.8 billion in fund commitments from TD and other institutional investors.

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