The sign of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is seen at its headquarters in Laval, Quebec May 19, 2015.Christinne Muschi/Reuters
What would we do without Valeant? Not much today, with deal makers quiet on all fronts, but here is some useful insight and analysis in preparation for next week.
DEAL OF THE DAY:
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has announced that it will acquire Mercury (Cayman) Holdings, the holding company of Amoun Pharmaceutical, for $800-million (U.S.), plus contingent payments. Amoun is the biggest player in Egypt's pharmaceutical sector and owns brands in such therapeutic areas as anti-hypertensives, broad-spectrum antibiotics and anti-diarrheals. Valeant intends for Amoun to serve as a platform for further expansion in the broader Middle East and North Africa pharmaceutical market. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. Full story
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Plan Group moves to expand into Quebec market
Plan Group Inc., a Canadian technical services provider and subsidiary of Bouygues Energies & Services, has acquired Quebec-based Gastier M.P. Inc., an electrical and mechanical works company. Gastier generated over $140-million in revenue in 2014 and has 120 permanent employees and approximately 500 hourly employees. The acquisition is part of Plan Group's national growth strategy. Full story
PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL
Clevest receives backing for market expansion
Clevest Solutions Inc., a Canadian software provider, has obtained an undisclosed amount of growth equity financing led by Accel-KKR, a U.S. technology private equity firm, with participation from Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, a previous investor in the company. Clevest, which has its headquarters in Richmond, B.C., said the capital infusion will facilitate continued investment in innovation and market expansion. Full story
ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT
Five charts that explain the week in business
The rate cut, crude outlook, inflation, housing and some online dating statistics. Full story
Buyers find Canadian bond market gains
Whatever is happening with the Canadian economy, it's created an edge in the fixed-income market, where it's beating Group of Seven peers and drawing buyers who bet Canadian debt will keep outpacing U.S. Treasuries after the Bank of Canada lowered its benchmark rate for the second time this year and ratcheted back growth forecasts. At about 1.5 per cent, Canada's 10-year yields are about 0.8 percentage points below those on similar-maturity Treasuries, the biggest gap in Bloomberg data going back to 1989. Full story
Investment Institute issues updated guidelines
The Investment Institute of Canada has updated its voluntary guidelines for fund managers regarding fund volatility risk classification. It was last updated on Dec. 31 of last year. Full story
Canada inflation accelerates on higher food and shelter costs
Canada's annual inflation rate edged up in June, but cheaper energy prices helped keep it at the lower end of the central bank's target range, data from Statistics Canada show. Annual inflation was 1 per cent last month, up from 0.9 per cent in May and in line with analysts' forecasts. The increase was led by higher prices for food and shelter. Full story
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Vancouver-based company heads for Nasdaq
ProNAi Therapeutics Inc., an oncology company, announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 8,100,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $17 a share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on July 16, 2015, under the symbol "DNAI." In addition, the underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,215,000 shares of the common stock. The company announced its IPO early this month. Full story
Know of any upcoming deals we should cover? Have suggestions for making the Daily Deal Roundup more useful? E-mail me at deals@globeandmail.com. I'll respond personally to every e-mail.