34 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
SEPTEMBER
/
OCTOBER 2018
COVER STORY
Shedding
STUDIES INTO
'HOT MARKET'
OUTLINE DEALS
BY PAUL MCLAUGHLIN
DIGGING INTO THE DATA
from studies into the "very hot" Private Equity
market in Canada, some interesting nuggets emerge — US financial buyers closed 79
deals in Canada in 2017, a new record, with large-market transactions perhaps playing
a bigger role over the past few years than expected.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP's inaugural Canadian Private Equity Deal Study —
an internal examination of some 150 PE deals the firm had signed from 2014 through
2017 — found that more than 20% had a purchase price of $500 million or more,
according to Kurt Sarno, co-leader of Blakes' Private Equity group, who authored the
study with senior associate Rory ffrench. Eight per cent of its M&A transactions in-
volved deals valued at more than $1 billion.
And a Bennett Jones LLP commissioned market analysis being conducted by
Acuris has found that deal flow in Canada was not just fueled by domestic players but
especially by "an influx of US financial buyers seeking reasonably priced targets amid
heated competition globally. e 79 inbound deals to Canada counted by Acuris in
2017 set a new record."
e interest in gathering intelligence on the Private Equity market in Canada is
perhaps a result of it being "very hot," says Matt Tevlin, chair of the business law group
at the mid-size firm Torkin Manes LLP. "ere's a lot of pent-up demand. A lot of PE
funds have raised a lot of money and there's considerable dry powder still out there."
Samantha Horn, a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Groups
at Stikeman Elliott LLP, concurs. "ere are a lot of transactions in Canada," she says.
the PE field
Light on
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
