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Cross Border Activity - September 2008

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California and Massachusetts-based venture shops continued to show interest in Canadian technology plays by participating in financings completed by eBlime, Infobright and Tungle – it is noteworthy to point out that each of the transactions involved a raise of at least $5 million and included participation by Canadian investors.  On the M&A side, US buyers privatized two TSX-listed companies.  One of the acquisitions involved a private equity fund taking out one of the remaining income trusts.

 

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

 

 

U.S. Activity in Canada

 

Canaan Partners (CA) led a $12 million financing of eBillme, an online payment solution provider based out of Ottawa.  The other backer in the deal was Celtic House Venture Partners.

 

Flybridge Capital Partners (MA) and California-based Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) took part in a $10 million raise by Infobright, a Toronto-based provider of analytic data warehousing solutions.  RBC Venture Partners provided the balance of the capital.

 

Commonwealth Capital Ventures of Massachusetts led a $5 million first round financing by Montreal’s Tungle.  The Canadian backers in the deal were JLA Ventures and Desjardins Venture Capital.  The company will dedicate the funds to building out its web-based scheduling service. 

 

Massachusetts-based TA Associates injected $98 million into Montreal’s Radialpoint, which provides managed internet security and care services to ISPs.

 

California’s D.E. Shaw Venture Capital was the lead investor in a $19 million round completed by Natrix Separations, a Burlington company developing chromatography products for a wide range of industries.  The other backers were Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund and BDC Venture Capital.

 

 

Cross Border M&A

 

A NY private equity shop, Centre Partners Management, agreed to acquire the operating business belonging to Connors Bros. Income Fund [CBF.UN-T].  The deal values the trust’s operating assets, Clover Leaf Seafoods and Bumble Bee Foods, at $437.5 million.

 

Gerber Scientific, a Connecticut-based supplier of automated manufacturing systems, has made an offer for all of the shares of Waterloo’s Virtek Vision International (TSX: VRK).  The proposed transaction values the industrial laser solution provider at $35.1 million.