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Cross Border Activity - August 2008

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The fact that the loonie is hovering around parity with the US dollar hasn’t stopped US players from investing in Canadian companies, as all of the notable Canada-US transactions last month involved money moving north across the border.  The month’s activity, which included two financings and five buyouts, consisted of three technology deals.  

Details of August’s cross border activity are listed below. 

 

 

U.S. Activity in Canada

 

Medicalis, an Ontario-based company that develops software for the diagnostic imaging market, raised $7 million from San Francisco’s HLM Venture Partners.

 

Warburg Pincus (NY) and The Blackstone Group (NY) put $275 million into Calgary Osum Oil Sands Corp, an oil service company based out of Calgary.

 

 

Cross Border M&A

 

Toronto’s Q9 Networks (TSX:Q), which operates outsourced data centre warehousing facilities, was bought out for $361 million by ABRY Partners, a private equity shop out of Massachusetts.      

 

Useful Networks, a Colorado company specializing in location-based services, acquired KnowledgeWhere, a developer of location-based mobile games and advertising applications headquartered in Calgary. 

 

Swander Pace Capital of California bought Montreal’s Lavo, a manufacturer of eco-friendly household product.

 

A California-based private equity shop, Genstar Capital LLC, bought out Voice Construction, an energy services company operating out of Alberta.

 

Calgary’s Saxon Energy Services (NASDAQ:SAXN) was taken private by First Reserve Corporation (CT) and Schlumberger Ltd (TX) in a transaction valued at an estimated $596 million.