Original Post CVCA
Good news abounds for the Canadian private equity industry.
Just last week, Onex just closed
on a new US$4.3 billion fund, called Onex Partners III, of which US$3.5 billion came from third party institutional investors. That US$3.5 billion is 75% more than had been raised for Onex II. According to CPP Investment Board’s website, it committed US$400 million to Onex Partners III in 2008; this commitment is more than double their US$150MM stake in 2003-vintage Onex Partners I.
CPPIB’s 2003 vintage investment in Onex I earned a 124.7% return on the capital invested (see prior post “CPPIB Canadian general partner Q2 2009 performance numbers” Nov 14-09).
Oncap, the small and mid-sized buyout arm of Onex, has also come through the recession with flying colours. $575 million Oncap II has been prudent about capital deployment during private equity’s “Golden Era”, and still has plenty of dry powder to invest. In a lower-valuation environment, having a chequebook is everything. Particularly when many U.S.-based PE funds are marketing their own new funds, and likely out of the market for new deals.
Birch Hill Private Equity Partners had a fabulous first close of $425 million in November. Considering the state of the pension fund universe and the negative impact that the drop in the public equity markets has had on the allocations that pensions have to “alternative assets”, this $425 million number is blockbuster. The fundraising target is $850 million in total. Their Sleep Country and Shred-It investments stick out as recent successes.
Clairvest Group Inc. had a $200 million first close on Clairvest Equity Partners IV, with one Ontario-based pension fund subscribing for $100 million at the outset. The balance of the $200 million comes from Clairvest’s own public company cash, a majority of which is owned by the management team and board of directors. Given their success with back-to-back PE “Deals of the Year” (see prior post “Clairvest makes it back-to-back “Deal of the Year” awards” Sept 23-09), you can be sure that $200 million figure will grow larger with subsequent closings in 2010. CPPIB’s $50 million commitment to 2001-vintage Clairvest EP Igrew by 51% in value as of the last reported quarter.
For its part, Torquest Partners has been busy closing new investments and financing tuckunders for portfolio company FirstOnSite. They even recruited the well-respected and popular Michael Hollend away from the excitement of the venture capital industry; Michael officially became a merchant banker in December. Every time I take my Nikon D300 on the road, I take a piece of Torquest with me via their Lowepro investment.
Canada’s private equity industry is definitely on a roll.
