PE Hub on Mergers and Acquisitions Renaissance - Colin W. Walker

For those of you interested in what is happening in the Mergers and Acquisitions market here in Canada, Kirk Falconer at PE Hub has a very good article posted on the Thomson Reuter website.

When will the highly anticipated revival in the merger and acquisition market take place? How much longer will venture capital and PE firms with aging portfolio assets have to wait before strategic investors are ready and willing to buy them?

These questions have been asked repeatedly since the 2007 financial crisis cast a pall over global M&A deal-making. Judging from the data, the wait for a substantial turnaround will be a little longer yet. Preliminary data released by Thomson Reuters (publisher of peHUB Canada) last week show that worldwide M&A activity in the first half of 2013 totaled US$979 billion, down 9% from the first half of last year. In fact, it was the slowest year-to-date period for international transactions since 2009.

The situation is, of course, much the same in Canada’s M&A market. In the first three months of the year, Crosbie & Co. reports that deal-making fell back to 2009 levels. This followed mixed results for 2012 as a whole, when transactions were fewer compared to 2011, but attracted higher values – a total of $183.4 billion, up 15% year over year.

Colin W. Walker, managing director at Crosbie, in a news release cites “macro-economic uncertainty” as one of the chief “culprits” behind softer M&A conditions in early 2013. 

Read more

Colin W. Walker has extensive experience in the full range of Crosbie's investment banking and direct investing activities. For over 20 years, he has played a leading role in numerous transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, financings, restructurings and financial opinions. Additionally, he managed the firm's initiative as Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager to First Ontario Fund and has been a Director of a number of private and public companies, as well as Director of the Toronto Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association. He joined Crosbie from UBS Canada where he managed relationships and structured transactions for a diverse range of mid-market and corporate clients. He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering & Management degree from McMaster University and an MBA from the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business.

Spicy foods poised for growth as global demand rises

The global popularity of spicy foods, combined with the trend towards ethnic foods in the US, makes products like Tabasco pepper sauce poised for growth. With global population growing, particularly in India and China, food companies are in demand by buyers.

Spots of activity are happening across the ethnic food industry in Canada, which is highly fragmented, with a wide scattering of companies making revenues from $10-million to $100-million. These owners are often running lifestyle businesses and they serve a niche market, such as tropical fruit drinks and spicy snacks for Asian customers.


The range of consumers clamouring for exotic tastes such as coconut water or tandoori-barbeque flavoured chips is expanding. Big companies, including Pepsi and Loblaws, are private-label innovating in this segment. Owners of ethnic food companies are finding their products moving from the back shelves to front-and-centre at the big-box retailers and gas stations to catch the consumer eye.



There are few large ethnic food players in Canada to keep a good balance of power with the corporate retailers and wholesalers who have been consolidating. The opportunity is ripe for a large company to roll-up the smaller ones and create a significant ethnic food business.

Read the whole article.

Jacoline Loewen is a director at Crosbie, which focuses on succession advice for family businesses and closely held small to medium-sized enterprises. Crosbie develops customized strategies, particularly in relation to M&A, financing and corporate strategy matters. Ms. Loewen is also the author of Money Magnet: How to Attract Investors to Your Business. You can follow her on Twitter @jacolineloewen.

Pressure increases on the Food Industry to keep down prices

In the current uncertain economic environment, beverage businesses need to stay sharp if they are to generate the growth and profitability on which their future depends.
Whether your interests are domestic, regional or global, we have on-the-ground professionals in developed and ‘rapid-growth’ emerging markets and can bring the resources of a global team, coordinated through a single point of contact.
Our strong commitment to the sector means we can offer in-depth knowledge, practical experience, strong industry relationships and genuine global reach to help you fulfill your objectives.
Take a closer look at some of the areas for you to focus on to improve your company and supply chain.

• Maximizing growth opportunities

• Increasing adaptability and responsiveness

• Delivering margin improvement

• Sharpening execution

• Enhancing corporate reputation

Mergers and Acquisitions Deals are Changing.

Dramatic shifts are taking place in the world of mergers and acquisitions. The types of deals that are taking place – and the way they’re financed and executed – are changing significantly.

Your business may be looking to divest assets or to acquire assets at competitive prices to increase your market share. Either way, you need to analyze the value and risks of a deal, to understand if you have a solid business case for moving forward.

What one question would you ask the CEO?

Interesting question - what would you ask to get the CEO to show their true abilities?

From HBR: Have you ever pondered what you'd ask the CEO if you were made chairman of the board for 10 minutes and could pose one question? You'd want to make it count. Nothing about markets or strategies — CEOs have canned answers for that kind of thing. You'd want a question that would strip away the cloak of invincibility and reveal the CEO's innermost fears. A question that could tell you a lot about the company's potential under this leader. Read more.

How do I sell my business?

Family business owners who are thinking about selling their companies and want to tilt the process to their advantage should start planning immediately.

“One reason our family business had a successful succession was because we started the process early,” says Laura McNally, part of the third generation at McNally International Inc., a leading Canadian tunneling and marine contractor. To read the whole article, click here.

Colin Walker explains why M&A Activity Resumes Declining Trend

First quarter Canadian M&A activity was lacklustre and resumed the downward trend that began 5 quarters ago. According to the Financial Post Crosbie: Mergers & Acquisitions in Canada database, there were 196 transactions in Q1 worth $25.9 billion. Although the quarterly decline appeared pronounced with a decline in activity of 35% and 51% in value from the strong fourth quarter (301 transactions worth $52.8 billion), Q4 now looks like a relative outlier as M&A resumed its downward multi-quarter trend. Activity in Q1 was at the lowest level since Q1/2009 and has also declined below the general range of quarterly activity observed since the financial crisis.
“The softness is in many ways counterintuitive,” said Colin Walker, Managing Director at Crosbie & Company. “Many of conditions should be quite favourable for M&A transactions but obviously, something is holding the market back. Some of the culprits likely include the macro-economic uncertainty, the impact of low rates, as well as certain sector specific issues.”
Large transaction (over $1 billion) activity hit the lowest quarterly level since Q1 2010, with only three transactions announced and an aggregate value of $7.7 billion. The largest of these transactions was the acquisition of Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for $4.6 billion. The other two transactions were the acquisition of Irish Life Group Limited by Great-West Lifeco Inc. for $1.8 billion and JSC Atomredmetzoloto’s acquisition of Uranium One Inc. for $1.3 billion.
Capital groups remained relatively active in the quarter with a total of 10 transactions over $100 million this quarter for an aggregate value of $8.1 billion. While down from 21 transactions last quarter, the showing this quarter is in line with the level of activity seen in most recent quarters. Canadian pension funds continued to be active, accounting for half of all the capital group announcements, three of which were real estate transactions; a continuation of the trend seen in recent quarter with pension funds actively acquiring local and international real estate assets. The largest capital group transaction in the quarter was the acquisition of Primaris Retail Real Estate Investment Trust by H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for $4.6 billion where Ontario Pension Board was one of the buyers.
Real Estate was the most active industry sector this quarter with a total of 69 deals (worth $11.5 billion), representing 35% of total M&A activity. Consumable Fuels was the second most active sector with 30 transactions for a value of $3 billion.
The top two sectors accounted for over 50% of total M&A activity and 56% of aggregate value. In the past 11 quarters, Real Estate has been the most active sector 8 times with Consumable Fuels being the most active the remaining three times.“The weakness in M&A activity this quarter was very broad, impacting most sectors outside of Real Estate and Financial Services,” said Colin Walker. “Of particular note is the weakness in both Mining and Consumable Fuels which reflects the individual issues facing each of those sectors.”
Cross-border transactions played its usual central role in the Canadian M&A market accounting for 40% of all announcements in the quarter. While Canadian firms’ acquisitions of foreign companies exceeded foreign acquisitions of Canadian firms by a ratio of 2.2 to 1, it is notable that Canadian firms also outspent their foreign counterparts on cross-border acquisitions by a ratio of 2 to 1 which reflects the lack of any larger foreign take-overs in the quarter. The largest cross-border transaction in the quarter was the aforementioned Irish Life Group transaction.
“Canadian firms continue to actively pursue attractive foreign acquisitions, which is a testament to the relative strength of Canadian firms and is an encouraging indicator in spite of the sharp decline in overall activity this quarter,” commented Colin Walker

It’s NOT All About You, It’s About the Company You Keep

Books written by friends are always the most interesting and Michelle Bailey shares her most valuable business ideas in her new book - It's NOT all about you, it's about the company you keep.

What a great title and Michelle's book seems to be channeling other great experts. Just last week, I was fortunate enough to host an event with Warren Buffett's team who buy companies in Canada. They are part of MiTek. They sold the majority of their company to Warren Buffett and have grown their business tremendously ever since. It helped to have the Berkshire Hathaway name but it was more than that. Exactly as Michelle has written, it is about the people you have around you.

Interesting enough, David Simpson, the professor from Ivey who ran the event commented on MiTek and their obvious positive attitude. He would agree with Michele Bailey too, as he said, "I tell my MBA students, surround your self with great people. Make sure they make the room light up when they walk in, not light up when they walk out."

So get inspired and get Michelle's book - here are the details:

Oakville’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year has packed her first book with learnings from her challenging journey on her quest to achieve meaningful success as an entrepreneur and business owner.

Michele Bailey, President and CEO of Oakville-based Blazing THE Agency, has now authored her first book:  It’s NOT All About You, It’s About the Company You Keep. 

Michele’s story inspires all who hear it, because it is told from the heart and is of a journey filled with challenges, heartaches and celebrations.  From the brink of disaster to the thriving business enterprise Blazing THE Agency is today, Michele openly and willingly shares her secrets to success and the mistakes that have made her wise.

Topics range from Building Amazing Teams, Cultivating a Strong Support Network, Leadership, Strategic Client and Supplier Relationships, to Attracting and Retaining Talent.  And while budding entrepreneurs will find the information and stories within the book to be particularly relevant, business professionals of all levels will find valuable lessons and nuggets of expert advice in every chapter.

 In a world where employee turnover is high and talented resources are not easy to retain, how is it that Blazing manages to keep its Team members for such a long time and so highly motivated?  Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out. 

 “My job every day is to make sure I provide the energy, vitality and support

 my team needs to excel in their jobs,” states Michele.

 The book, containing the Workbook, will be available at www.blazingtheagency.com for $24.99 and electronically for $19.99 as of April 26, 2013.  In keeping with Michele’s strong belief in “paying it forward” and in the spirit of “giving back”, a percentage of every book sold will benefit The Oakville
Hospital
Foundation
as
well
as Partners for Haitian Children (PHC) – a signature charity supported by the company.

To continue the conversation CONTACT:  martine.d@blazingtheagency.com

About Blazing THE Agency….

Blazing THE Agency is an Integrated Marketing Communications firm that through its 18 years in business has delivered results oriented programs in the areas of Trade and Consumer Promotions, Branding and Strategic Corporate Communications, as well as Business to Business Marketing. Blazing’s has achieved excellence by providing our clients with a full range of services -  strategic planning, brand development, traditional and digital web design, video production and mobile campaigns which has allowed us to take ownership of the entire project life cycle delivering on the brand and business objectives of our clients across North America.

About the author Michele Bailey….

Founder, President and CEO of Blazing Design Inc., Michele is also an engaging, dynamic professional speaker, able to address a wide variety of topics. Michele’s experiences in negotiating a solid financial footing, making sound investment decisions, creating and mining a strong business network, maintaining a talented employee base and managing ongoing positive forward momentum are the keys to her success.

Michele’s accomplishments and credentials are many…

• Founding member of Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) in Canada

(www.womenpresidentsorg.com)

•       Member of WEConnect Canada and its first Women-Certified Business in Canada

(www.WEconnectcanada.org)

•       Winner of Oakville’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, selected by the Oakville

Awards for Business Excellence

•       2012 Winner of The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference

100  Award – Entrepreneurial Category, for contributions to the economic

empowerment of women (www.tiaw.org)

•       Chair of the Marketing Committee for The Oakville Hospital Foundation (OHF), whose mandate is to support not only the existing Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital but to contribute to the required millions needed to equip the new regional hospital now under construction in Oakville, Ontario (www.haltonhealthcare.com)

Are you looking for an equity partner? Terry Didus at Heenan Blaikie has good news.

A report from Heenan Blaikie which is well worth reading.

Optimism In Canada’s Private Equity & Venture Capital Markets
Heenan Blaikie,Terry Didus, 16 April 2013

The federal government recently announced that it would be injecting $400 million into the venture capital sector in Canada in 2013. To Canada's private equity and venture capital community, this comes as welcome news and serves as a call to action for an industry that has certainly gone through some dark days in recent years. Yet, based on the activity in the last 24 months in the private equity and venture capital markets, there may yet be room for optimism.

Private Equity

Almost $4.5 billion in private equity deals were done in Canada in 2012, representing more than 110 transactions – a 25% increase over Canada's best year in 2008. In part, the number of transactions, particularly in Quebec, reflects a generational transfer of ownership among the baby boomers. As well, these numbers are reflective of a large number of going-private transactions, where many companies (that had no business going public anyway) are simply giving up on the market or find they can't live with the required level of compliance and regulation.

Venture Capital

Another telling statistic is that venture capital funds raised almost $1 billion in 2011 and $1.8 billion in 2012, and more than $400 million was actually disbursed (70% more in 2012 than the previous year). As for the $2.8 billion raised in 2011 and 2012, these are venture capital funds that will have to be invested, mostly in Quebec, over the next five years. Of the total funds raised across Canada last year, Quebec funds captured a 52% share, or $924 million. Bottom line – venture capital fundraising is at its highest level in a decade.

The Federal Government's Venture Capital Action Plan

Lastly, in January 2013, the federal government of Canada, in a studied and planned effort to provide support to Canada's underexploited knowledge-based economy, announced that it would deploy $400 million over the next seven to ten years to bolster the presence in Canada of a strong and mature venture capital private sector. This is more good news for Canadian start-ups and Canadian venture capital funds and national funds of funds, as well as foreign funds seeking to enter the Canadian market as co-investors. These funds will not be managed by the feds; instead, this program will be pushed down through the existing funds of funds network in Quebec.

The government's plan is in response to historically less-than-stellar returns for venture capital investors in Canada resulting from a lack of investor confidence, the unwillingness of large institutional investors to take a chance on early-stage companies, and a lack of venture capital funds and experienced fund managers in Canada who are able to lead successful venture capital funds. The government hopes to overcome this systemic problem with a long-term view of improving Canada's economic competitiveness by increasing private sector investment and decision-making in emerging Canadian companies with high-growth potential. Based on the experience of growing knowledge economies, such as Boston, New York and Silicon Valley, this program underscores the importance of a sustainable private sector venture capital sector, as well as recognizing other factors, such as technology transfer offices, linkages to foreign investment pools and the availability of mentors for inexperienced venture capital firms to build local expertise.

In order to do this, the government has committed this $400 million to support the creation or growth of private sector, large-scale venture capital funds in Canada. The $400 million will be allocated three ways:

(i) $250 million to establish new, large private sector-led funds of funds in partnership with institutional and corporate strategic investors, as well as interested provinces;
(ii) up to $100 million to recapitalize existing large private sector-led funds of funds; and,
(iii) up to $50 million to be invested in a handful of existing high-performing venture capital funds in Canada.

The fact that the lion's share of the funds will go to both new funds of funds (which should be up and running within the year) or existing funds of funds represents a big opportunity for foreign institutional investors seeking to enter the Canadian market and invest in Canadian high-growth companies in a significant way. With a minimum investment requirement of $10 million, potential investors for the new and existing national funds of funds are large foreign or domestic institutional investors, such as banks, pension funds, corporations, SWFs, insurance companies and interested provinces (the participating provincial governments will contribute capital on the same terms as the capital from the government of Canada).

Each of the national funds of funds must be managed by an experienced private sector general partner with a substantial presence in Canada. Eligibility for the underlying venture capital fund managers also depends on a substantial presence in Canada and a commitment to invest one-third of their total capital in Canadian-domiciled firms. The incentive structure for private sector investors will be the same in both the new and existing funds of funds. In each case, the government will privilege funds of funds capitalized between $200 million and $300 million, and making market-based private sector investments focused on maximizing returns.

Interested investors will have the opportunity to examine a draft term sheet from the government outlining:

(i) the key parameters of the funds of funds;
(ii) the funds' investment orientation; and,
(iii) the selection of private sector general partners.

Somewhat surprisingly, this program has not yet received significant media attention. The reason may be due in part to the fact that, at this point, the exact size and sectorial focus, if any, of these national funds of funds are undetermined. The decisions the government makes will depend on discussions with private sector investors and which investment strategies and conditions maximize participation from institutional and corporate strategic investors.

Jacoline Loewen, expert in mid market companies, Crosbie

Don’t Let Family Ties Bind Your Exit Strategy

Blood may be thicker than water but it can also create a way bigger mess.

Running a family business has some definite advantages, yet it poses unique challenges when creating an exit strategy.

In this PROFIT BusinessCast, Ed Giacomelli, managing director at specialty investment banking firm, Crosby & Company, explores these obstacles—including financial, leadership, social and emotional—and how best to avoid them. Great podcast and if you are interested in succession, worth the listen:
View Profit Magazine link