By Euan Rocha and Matt Scuffham
CALGARY/TORONTO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Canadian private equity
investments overseas surged to record levels in 2015 on the back
of some major buyouts by Canadian pension funds across a wide
range of sectors, according to data released on Monday.
The Thomson Reuters data showed that Canadian private equity
investments abroad jumped to C$159.2 billion ($114 billion) in
2015, more than the combined value of all such deals struck by
Canadian PE firms in the five years prior.
"Part of the challenge for a Canadian-based private equity
platform is that there just aren't a lot of opportunities in
Canada," said Dougal Macdonald, the head of Morgan Stanley (N:MS) in
Canada. "With the sheer size of some of these funds, whether
it's CPPIB, Teachers or Onex, you really have to look outside
Canada for opportunities. We expect this trend to continue."
The top 10 outbound PE buyouts accounted for just over C$100
billion in deal value, and Canada's largest pension fund
manager, CPPIB, or the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, was
involved in six of those deals in 2015.
Private equity buyouts of Canadian companies fell from 2014
levels, but 2015 represented the second best year for PE buyouts
in the Canadian market since 2007.
While there are fewer buyout opportunities in Canada, the
one area that is ripe for picking this year is the energy
sector, Macdonald said.
"Our expectation is that there will be more activity, some
of which will be opportunistic acquisitions of public companies
given the environment and some will be driven by rationalization
of portfolios, which will drive assets sales."
VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS
The data also showed venture capital investment in Canadian
companies grew at a strong pace in 2015. Firms invested C$2.64
billion in the space last year, up 11 percent from 2014 levels.
And over 20 Canadian companies attracted funding rounds of
more than C$25 million.
Lately however, there are concerns building about valuations
in some pockets in the start-up space, cautions John Ruffolo,
head of OMERS Ventures, the VC arm of the OMERS pension fund.
"You're getting lots of pundits who think that 2016 might
actually see a slowdown of venture financing. Certainly the hot
companies, may be unaffected, but a lot of the others might see
a far more difficult year," said Ruffolo, adding that he still
likes the prospects of those in the healthcare and artificial
intelligence space.
($1 = 1.3966 Canadian dollars)