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Canadian bank headquarters stand on Bay Street in Toronto.Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

Canadian technology acquisition machine Open Text Corp. announced its latest deal Wednesday, one day after dodging a bullet on its most recent purchase. The enterprise software giant from Waterloo, Ont. said Wednesday it would pay $7.10 (U.S.) per share, or $240-million, for Nasdaq-listed forensic security firm Guidance Software Inc. of Pasadena, Calif. Story (subscribers)

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. announced on Tuesday that it is investing $190-million via an interest-bearing security (essentially preferred shares) into AGT Food and Ingredients Inc. While Regina-based AGT (formerly Alliance Grain Traders Inc.) might not be a household name, it's a major global processor of pulses such as lentils, peas, beans and chickpeas. Story (subscribers)

This is the daily Streetwise newsletter with stories chosen by Globe financial services editor Rita Trichur. If you're reading this on the Web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for the Streetwise newsletter and all Globe newsletters here.

ELSEWHERE IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

Although the percentage of Canadians using new financial technology has doubled over the past 18 months, Canada lags much of the rest of the world in adopting services offered by online providers. Story

Shares in Home Capital Group Inc relinquished early gains on Wednesday as concerns about tougher mortgage regulations offset news it had paid back the balance of a $2-billion loan from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Story

WHAT WE'RE READING

A decade after its launch, Credit Karma claims 75 million members, including almost half of all U.S. millennials and a third of all Americans with credit reports. The private, San Francisco-based company, which says it has been profitable for the past two years, recently revealed that its revenue jumped 50 per cent last year, to more than $500-million (U.S.). Bloomberg

As record level of capital flow into private markets, fund manager have started charging more from investors. Institutional Investor

It's no surprise that VC and PE analysts are compensated more generously after they earn an MBA. But exactly how much more do analysts at investment firms really earn once they've graduated from business school? Pitchbook

FROM THE ANALYSTS

Following Cott Corp.'s divestiture of its traditional soda business this week, Canaccord Genuity analyst Derek Dley had this to say about Cott pursuing more acquisitions in the water, tea and coffee beverage businesses.

"Following the divestiture of the traditional business, we estimate Cott's net debt/EBITDA [earning before interest tax depreciation and amortization] improves to 3.2x from 4.7x previously. Once the company closes the transaction later this year, we believe Cott will have a much more flexible balance sheet, allowing the company to opportunistically pursue larger accretive M&A opportunities.

"We believe areas of focus are coffee, water, and water filtration, with targets ranging between $300-500 million (U.S.) in revenue. This coupled with the company's continued execution of tuck-in acquisitions in both North America and Europe, should allow for Cott's growth profile to exceed the 2-3 per cent industry level. We believe Cott would be comfortable increasing leverage to 4.0x net debt/EBITDA to fund an attractive acquisition opportunity."

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 18/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
FFH-T
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd
+1.16%1537.53
OTEX-T
Open Text Corp
+0.13%52.21
OTEX-Q
Open Text Cp
+0.31%38.6

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