Agreement win-win
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Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Ares Management have both taken a minority stake in Synex Business Performance, a Canadian brokerage consolidator in commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, group insurance and financial services.

CDPQ is providing debt and equity financing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In other CDPQ news, its power transmission platform Verene Energia has bought Equatorial Transmissão S.A., a business unit of Equatorial S.A. The division owns and operates seven power transmission lines. The transaction’s value could hit $1.3 trillion according to a release.

“This new acquisition by our platform Verene shows the continued interest we have in investing in Brazil, a key market for us,” said Emmanuel Jaclot, CDPQ’s executive vice-president and head of infrastructure. “It also reflects our appetite for its power transmission sector, which offers a stable and predictable regulatory framework that is attractive to our clients.”

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PSP Investments and Sandbrook Capital are selling Havfram, an offshore wind infrastructure company, to the offshore energy and marine engineering giant DEME. PSP Investments and Sandbrook launched Havfram in 2021.

“Our investment in Havfram reflects our broader capabilities and commitment to invest in assets essential to the renewables value chain, while generating strong risk-adjusted returns,” said Sandiren Curthan, managing director and global head of infrastructure investments at PSP Investments.

The deal is valued at roughly €900 million. It’s expected to close by the end of this month.

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Add Manulife and Toronto’s Sagicor Financial Company Ltd. to the list of companies targeted by Ocehan LLC in unsolicited mini-tender offers. Both companies issued releases announcing that they do not recommend or endorse the respective offers.

Ocehan — there is little public information available about the company — offered to buy up to 50,000 Manulife common shares and 100,000 Sagicor common shares in separate announcements. In November, Ocehan sought to buy up to 50,000 common shares of Great-West Lifeco.

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Commercial real estate investor Trez Capital has sold a package of master-planned communities to Starwood Capital Group. The portfolio includes 11 projects in Dallas, Houston and Austin.

“Years ago, we recognized the growing housing shortage in the U.S. Sunbelt and strategically decided to focus on residential real estate,” said Sam Salloway, senior managing director, head of equity investments at Trez Capital. “[M]igration trends, job growth and favourable economic conditions continue to fuel demand in tax-friendly, high-growth states.”