Views From the Market: Recent Episodes
Stikeman Elliott
Stikeman Elliott provides creative Canadian legal services to clients around the world.
In this series of 15-minute podcasts on private equity and midmarket M&A, with a focus on Canada, a wide range of industry participants discuss the deal market trends that they’ve been seeing. The host and originator of the series is Mario Nigro, M&A partner at Stikeman Elliott in Toronto.
See Mario Nigro’s bio: https://bit.ly/3qOBvt8
A activity in Canada•Why buyers are approaching transactions more cautiously amid market uncertainty•The opportunities AI could create for Canadian technology entrepreneurs🔔 Get notified when new episodes drop. Follow Views from the Market on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🤝 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Justin Joffe of Legate Partners joins us to share insights from his journey as an entrepreneur turned CEO coach, and what he believes makes a successful CEO. The discussion focuses on the challenges facing first-time business leaders, who must be able to balance big-picture thinking with detailed analysis, depending on the situation. While there is no one formula for success, Justin emphasizes the importance of being level-headed, highly organized and responsive to daily developments. Also important is the ability to concisely articulate the company’s vision and values to create a sense of direction across the organization. Finally, Justin recommends that searchers and other prospective acquirors/CEOs look past the spreadsheet to understand the type of commitment that running a particular type of business will entail. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A over the next few years. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A advisory firm, joins Mario Nigro to discuss the latest trends in lower midmarket deals. One notable shift is the lengthening of typical deal timelines to 4-6 months post-LOI, up from 2-4 months just a few years ago, driven by increased lender caution and reliance on quality of earnings reports. He also highlights a trend of sellers holding unrealistic valuation expectations based on outdated market reports and, increasingly, AI-generated analyses. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty, Tyler remains optimistic, citing strong private equity interest and the continuing wave of “baby-boomer” exits.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A Club sessions include the challenge of getting business owners to prepare for exits earlier and the impact of tariff, interest rate, and geopolitical uncertainty on Canadian dealmaking. Ugo also highlights the Club’s new Academy, offering training programs in partnership with McGill University, and plans for international expansion to New York, London, and Paris.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Eric Ries joins Mario Nigro to discuss his latest book, Incorruptible. The book’s thesis is that the business world’s focus on shareholder primacy and profit extraction is inconsistent with the interests of the businesses themselves. Because purpose-driven companies outperform extractive companies, buyers should diligence intangibles such as ethos, pricing restraint and employee loyalty – not just balance sheets. In Eric’s experience, sellers of purpose-driven businesses often prefer bidders that commit to maintaining their legacy over higher bids from extractive buyers.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Joining Mario Nigro for this episode is Mackenzie Regent, co-founder of Kalos, a boutique transaction advisory firm providing financial due diligence and valuation for midmarket deals across North America. They discuss how global uncertainty is affecting midmarket deals, where resources for diligence deep-dives are often limited. According to Mackenzie, recent systemic shocks are interrupting deal flow, but generally only briefly, because advisors have become adept at structuring earnouts and other valuation bridges that blunt the impact of global uncertainty. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Jeffrey McCain of Woodward Capital joins Mario Nigro to discuss his firm’s evolution from traditional self-funded search into a broader investing platform participating across the capital stack (including LP positions in institutional funds and equity-gap situations). Jeff describes Woodward’s focus on trades-based businesses. HVAC, in particular, is attractive in light of the industry’s inherent stability, the frequency of succession-driven founder sales, and the ability to compound value through operational improvements. Jeff also provides an overview of the slightly different focus of JSM Capital, a new family office, which targets majority investments in infrastructure services platforms in the $5-15 million EBITDA range with a long-term hold strategy.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
George Sabbouh of Stifel Financial joins Mario Nigro for an enlightening discussion on the state of the deal market in Canada. After an uneven “K-shaped” recovery in 2025, George is seeing strong momentum in certain sectors – metals and mining, business services, infrastructure services, and waste management – amid continuing buyer hesitancy in tariff-exposed sectors such as manufacturing. Broader market trends include increasing diligence around AI disruption risk, which is emerging as a major concern in the marketplace. Looking ahead, Sabbouh expects 2026 to strengthen with easing rates, an IPO rebound, significant dry powder, and alternative exit tools such as continuation vehicles and dividend recaps.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A strategy leverages its roots as a small family-owned business to address potential sellers’ legacy-protection concerns. Mario and Ezio also discuss Bondi’s decision to fund acquisitions directly from its balance sheet – a reflection of its philosophy of control and capital discipline. Ezio remains confident in the resilience of the produce sector and sees significant opportunity as older owner operators look to exit over the coming decade.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Jeffrey Elliott, a partner in Stikeman Elliott’s funds and securities regulatory practice, joins Mario Nigro to discuss the evolution of private equity fund structures in Canada. While the classic single-fund structure and traditional “2 and 20” model are still intact, sponsors are increasingly using more complex arrangements, including co-investment vehicles, GP-led secondaries, open-ended or long-duration funds, and continuation vehicles in which an asset is rolled over to a new investor base. The discussion explores the growth of midmarket fund formation in Canada, including funds of search funds and emerging “holdco” structures that resemble fund vehicles but focus on narrower strategies. Looking ahead, Jeffrey expects continued growth in long-term hold strategies and increased secondary market activity as investor liquidity needs evolve.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Join Mario Nigro and Senia Rapisarda, Managing Director of HarbourVest Canada, for a discussion of Canada’s changing venture, growth and private equity landscape. Senia and HarbourVest have become a significant presence in the Canadian market, with $1.2 billion in investments focused on the technology, climate tech and life sciences sectors. Key challenges for Canada’s entrepreneurs, in Senia’s view, include building large, enduring Canadian champions, overcoming the shortage of domestic growth capital, and encouraging a culture of repeat entrepreneurship. Looking ahead, Senia believes that geopolitical uncertainty will prompt Canadian entrepreneurs to pursue global opportunities, fostering a more balanced and internationally connected business sector.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Adrian Bartha and Quinten Griffiths, founding partners of GoodCapital, about their approach to midmarket private equity. GoodCapital was built on a high involvement, hands on model that influences everything from deal selection to post acquisition engagement and is informed by Quinten and Adrian’s own experiences as business owners and acquirers. While not exclusively tied to the proprietary deal model, its four acquisitions to date have been sourced internally from the founders’ extensive networks. This underscores the firm’s core belief that deep and longstanding personal relationships are the key to success in any economic environment.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
David Au-Yeung and Victor Wong join Mario Nigro to discuss CollectiveXP, which provides investment and advisory services in Canada’s lower midmarket. After exiting Flipp, a VC-backed tech startup that achieved revenues over $100 million, David and Victor decided to use their skills, connections and capital to work with other investors. CollectiveXP’s philosophy centres on relationship building, early collaboration with founders, and leveraging real-world experience to apply technology – including AI – to drive growth in midmarket businesses across all sectors. CollectiveXP typically makes minority investments, with flexibility for majority stakes. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A, and budgeting. Sectors of interest include IT services, waste management, operations and maintenance and equipment rentals, among others. Sebastien and Mario conclude their discussion by looking at some of the trends that Clairvest is currently seeing in the marketplace.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A. As he explains, cybersecurity diligence has become a key part of deal-making, driven by the ever-increasing value of data in many business sectors. He stresses the value of hands-on technical assessments – rather than check-the-box exercises – for many organizations, as well as the importance of proactive controls and the challenges smaller firms face in allocating resources for cybersecurity. Looking ahead, Goldstein predicts increased use of AI-driven tools for risk assessment as cybersecurity awareness continues to grow.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
features Sévrine Labelle, Managing Director of BDC’s Thrive Lab and Thrive Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Fund, which focus on women entrepreneurs. As Sévrine notes, only 4% of investment in Canada supports women-founded businesses. The conversation centres on the newly launched $50 million Thrive ETA Fund, which helps women become entrepreneurs through acquisition – whether via search funds, self-funded deals, or management buyouts. The fund provides equity for women to acquire mid-sized businesses. Sévrine emphasizes the sector-agnostic fund’s flexibility in investment models and cheque sizes (typically $1 - 2 million) and its reliance on co-investment rather than majority ownership. 🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Andrew Sarna and Vanessa Hui of Forthlane Partners, an independent wealth management firm. Forthlane offers sophisticated institutional investment strategies to its clientele of high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and foundations. Vanessa and Andrew discuss how the firm diversifies client investments through private equity, hedge funds, and defensive credit strategies that offer downside protection. The broad experience of Forthlane’s team allows it to tap into geographies and lower midmarket investments that are sometimes overlooked. Opportunities in precious metals and other commodities, which are partly AI-driven, are among the recent developments that are considered.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A advisory firm, Oaklins is able to expose Canadian midmarket businesses to a global marketplace of potential buyers and sellers, in addition to assisting with purely domestic transactions. The discussion focuses on the effect of tariff-related uncertainty on potential foreign acquirors. Jonathan notes that while many buyers are hesitant about acquisitions in the metals and auto sectors, there is still a healthy appetite in the U.S. and overseas for acquisitions in CUSMA-protected industries. Looking ahead, Jonathan predicts that pent-up supply will drive higher deal volumes in 2026, fueled by succession planning and delayed transactions.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A is headed.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, we welcome Mike Alberts of Boston-based Cohere Capital. Cohere focuses on founder-owned businesses in the $2-15 million (U.S.) EBITDA range, primarily in the tech-enabled services, software and business services sectors. The firm’s preference is to partner with existing leadership. As Mike notes, he and Cohere have had many positive experiences in the Canadian deal space and regularly travel north in search of new opportunities. The rise of AI is also considered: Mike sees AI as augmenting businesses rather than replacing their core services and human capital. Looking ahead, Mike expects a rebound in deal flow as the market adjusts to ongoing economic uncertainty and finally deploys the “dry powder” that built up in H1 2025.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this podcast, Mario Nigro is joined by David To, President and CEO of AT Safety Training. Always an entrepreneur at heart, David followed up a career in the apparel sector by forming his own private investment firm, Lnkd Capital, with the express purpose of acquiring and operating a midmarket business. David shares his “search” story, beginning with an information-gathering phase that covered about 16-20 sectors, followed by an email campaign that eventually led – after some ups and downs – to the acquisition of AT Safety Training, a services business based in Edmonton. David’s transaction was a proprietary deal, the pros and cons of which are the focus of the conversation. In the end, his success depended heavily on relationship-building with the owners, who were heavily invested in the business as their legacy.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this podcast, Sandro Mina of Boston-based Relay Investments joins Mario Nigro to discuss search-fund trends. First exposed to search as a Stanford student in the early 1990s, Sandro co-founded Relay in 2013. In the past 12 years, Relay has backed over 250 search funds in the U.S., Canada and beyond. As Sandro notes, search has moved into the mainstream as the proven success of the model has attracted a broader range of investors. At the same time, innovations such as accelerators have developed and the line between search and PE has sometimes been blurred. Despite these changes, the basic formula for search success – energetic, motivated searchers, plus experienced investors and mentors – continues to apply.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Eric Silber of Riverdale Poultry joins Mario Nigro for this edition of the podcast. After leaving a career on Bay Street over a decade ago, Eric and business partner Prasanna Ranganathan decided to become independent sponsors by investing in Riverdale, a leading poultry transportation business in southern Ontario. While not initially planning a hands-on role for themselves, they soon began managing operations directly and eventually bought the company outright. In a wide-ranging discussion of the long learning curve that followed, Silber stresses the importance of adjusting to the cultural shift from finance to frontline operations. He also discusses his role as a business investor and what he looks for in entrepreneurs, including resourcefulness, financial sophistication and a willingness to venture outside major urban areas.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Stringent data protection laws and the sheer volume of digitized information in the possession of most businesses have increased cybersecurity’s importance in transactional due diligence. As Danielle Miller Olofsson explains in this episode, buyers are typically looking for a strong culture of cyber risk management in the form of privacy policies, incident response plans, and data retention schedules, among others. At the same time, cyber issues are becoming normalized and “de-dramatized”, with purchasers assessing the materiality of any cybersecurity weaknesses and dealing with cyber risk through price adjustments or indemnities. Cyber insurance is now well established and a must for most businesses. Trends in cyber risk management are also discussed, including a growing tendency to resist and even strike back against cyber-ransom demands.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Avneet Multani discusses Strive Equity Partners, a PE firm focused on investing as an independent sponsor in founder-owned industrial, healthcare and tech-enabled services businesses, typically in the $3-10m EBITDA range. Avneet founded Toronto-based Strive after working in the U.S. market and finding that lower midmarket deals were the best fit for his entrepreneurial work ethic. Seller rollovers, in which a retiring owner requires an experienced hands-on advisor to ensure smooth succession, are among the best opportunities for leveraging Strive’s skill set. As Avneet explains, the independent sponsor model is rapidly gaining acceptance in Canada and its flexibility should ensure its continued growth over the coming years.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
River Ewing of Hadley Family Capital is Mario Nigro’s guest in this episode. Hadley has evolved from a manufacturing business into a diversified “family office” investor that focuses on supporting searchers in Canada and the United States. River highlights the unique advantages family offices bring to the search fund ecosystem, including flexibility and a deep understanding of small-enterprise entrepreneurship. Hadley is industry-agnostic, targeting traditional searches in the $1-5 million EBITDA range and favouring businesses with strong governance structures. Canada’s unique search fund ecosystem is expanding, particularly in the self-funded segment. Hadley sees vast opportunities in Canada and River anticipates continued growth of self-funded searchers, regardless of tariffs and other economic concerns.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
A as the new reality sinks in. Many of his entrepreneurial clients – even those that rely on the export market – are working through the situation with the help of Andrew and his team, who remain focused on supporting the midmarket. Tighter due diligence and careful analyses of cross-border exposures are now standard, but lenders are still competing for good deals. Andrew notes that consolidation opportunities are particularly attractive in Canada’s vast lower midmarket.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this podcast, Karen Fisman of PwC joins Mario Nigro to discuss recent midmarket M&A trends – specifically the significant decline in deal flow caused by the trade wars. Karen explains that the deals that are proceeding tend to involve smaller, tariff-resistant services businesses selling to buyers that are highly familiar with the businesses’ market niches. Karen believes that we may start to see premium valuations for tariff-resistant businesses as PE firms compete for a reduced number of investment opportunities. While a market recovery is unlikely in the remainder of 2025, Karen remains optimistic about 2026, anticipating that stalled processes will resume as clarity improves and the need to deploy existing capital drives activity.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Professor Marc Busch of Georgetown University joins Mario Nigro for a discussion on the impact of tariffs on M&A. Professor Busch explains how current U.S. trade policy is affecting global commercial dynamics. While some moderation may be expected as “deals” are negotiated, sectoral tariffs may become a permanent fixture of U.S. trade policy. From a Canadian perspective, companies are adapting to U.S. tariffs by reshaping their supply chains and production strategies while hoping that a renegotiated CUSMA agreement will restore predictability to the marketplace. Professor Busch presents a range of scenarios regarding future trade agreements, suggesting that new trade barriers – particularly tariffs invoked on “national security” grounds – will continue to impact business planning for the foreseeable future. Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Andrew Walton of Ironbridge Equity Partners joins Mario Nigro to discuss the current state of midmarket private equity and M&A in Canada. Ironbridge’s substantial portfolio includes industrial, manufacturing, and distribution businesses across most regions of Canada. Unsurprisingly, the discussion focuses on the ongoing impact of tariff-induced market uncertainty. Even transactions that are proceeding tend to move slowly, thanks in part to longer diligence processes and a go-slow attitude among many buyers. However, as Andrew notes, while tariffs cannot be avoided, some strategies that can partially mitigate their impact are already being deployed.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Representation and warranty insurance (“RWI”), a growing presence in Canadian M&A transactions, is the subject of Mario Nigro’s conversation with Rishi Dhir of Willis Towers Watson’s Transactional Insurance Solutions group. Rishi discusses the increased adoption of RWI in the Canadian midmarket, noting that it is now commonly used in transactions with enterprise values as low as $5 million. He explains that the premiums and deductibles for these policies have decreased, while also highlighting the broad coverage provided in deals of all sizes. Recent developments highlight RWI providers’ increased scrutiny of supply-chain flexibility and reliance on international customers in response to the tariff landscape.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Joining Mario Nigro for this episode is Wandrille Lefèvre of EC2, a Québec-based consulting firm that provides specialized M&A and corporate finance advice to midmarket companies. According to Wandrille, the Québec market, like other Canadian markets, is driven by factors like baby boomer retirements and a need for technology investment. The range of buyers in the province includes a similar mix of private equity and strategics as is found elsewhere. Even in the uncertain tariff environment, EC2 is seeing steady interest from potential sellers, with the caveat that those sellers are deliberating more about how to proceed, while buyers are looking more intently at the tariff exposure of potential acquisitions.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this podcast, David Ritchie shares the story of CFO Hive, which provides businesses with contract CFOs on a fractional, full-time, or project basis, leveraging a network of experienced CFOs to offer expertise that matches client needs. Contract CFOs can add value in four ways: (i) help growing companies professionalize their finance functions, (ii) stabilize distressed businesses, (iii) assist companies during transactions, such as IPOs and M&A, and (iv) address resource gaps. The discussion emphasizes the evolving role of CFOs, particularly in M&A, as drivers of growth, and the growing interest among mid-career and older CFOs in contract assignments. Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Michael Wallace of TIMIA Capital joins Mario Nigro for an enlightening discussion of TIMIA's role as a lender to early-stage companies in the technology and software space. For many smaller businesses, firms like TIMIA are valuable sources of non-dilutive capital that can otherwise be difficult to find in the Canadian market. Michael and Mario discuss TIMIA's growth and prospects, with special attention to the things looked for when making lending decisions.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Mario Nigro welcomes Tom McCullough, Chairman and CEO of Northwood Family Office, which he co-founded in 2003. Tom discusses the evolution of family offices, emphasizing their vital role as “general contractors” providing integrated management of all aspects of clients’ financial affairs, including the important part they play in preparing next generation leaders. He also highlights the growing trend of family offices becoming direct, rather than passive, investors with substantial in-house expertise. The conversation provides valuable insight into the family office space and its future direction in Canada.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Mario Nigro interviews Curtis Colbary, President and CEO of Rebel Vac Systems. Curtis discusses his background in accounting and financial due diligence, and how it led him to the search fund space and eventually, through a tip from a friend, to Alberta-based Rebel Vac, a manufacturer of hydro excavation and industrial vacuum trucks. He describes the challenge of successful searching in a sector that was relatively new to the concept, as well as the ongoing value of his excellent rapport with the seller, who has become a key advisor as the business pursues its growth strategy.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this podcast, Lisa Hooey, CEO of Community Resources and Support Services (CRSS), shares her transition from a career in banking and operations to the very different world of search fund entrepreneurship. The desire to make a meaningful impact led Lisa to establish Freda Capital and eventually acquire CRSS, a company providing residential and support services for people with intellectual disabilities and complex needs. Lisa discusses her search process, which focused on human-centric businesses, and describes how she found CRSS and decided it was right for her.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Sid Nair, senior VP in EY Canada’s corporate finance group, joins Mario Nigro to explore the state of midmarket tech sector M&A in Canada. Sid has developed his EY team into one of the country’s leading advisors to founder-led tech businesses. He and Mario discuss how M&A in the tech space is rebounding from its post-pandemic lull, as buyers focus on quality assets with mission-critical software, significant intellectual property, and a history of customer retention. Sid notes that sellers in the tech space can be younger than in other areas, reflecting a culture of serial entrepreneurship.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
Our guest, Sumit Aneja of Gulmohar Capital Partners, shares his journey from the New York financial industry to his current home of Montréal, where as a searcher, he acquired Voxco, a software and tech-enabled services business. After successfully growing Voxco’s business, Sumit negotiated a successful exit and, together with several U.S. and Canada based colleagues, founded Gulmohar Capital Partners. Gulmohar aims to acquire and professionalize lower middle-market tech businesses on both sides of the border. Sumit’s view is that, although overall acquisition activity in the tech industry has softened, the lower midmarket continues to offer significant opportunities.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
This episode highlights the growing role of competition and foreign investment law in Canadian midmarket transactions. Special guest Michael Kilby, head of the Competition and Foreign Investment Group at Stikeman Elliott, highlights the increasing regulatory scrutiny of small and medium-sized transactions in the wake of recent amendments to the Competition Act. Scenarios that are attracting regulatory attention, include private equity roll-up strategies in sectors such as veterinary services, dentistry, and software (particularly AI). Also discussed are changes to the foreign investment review process in Canada and their impact on transaction timing and risk allocation.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
In this episode, Mario Nigro interviews entrepreneur Rob Luck on his transition from engineering to search funds, and particularly Rob’s experience acquiring, operating and eventually exiting Hathorn Corp., a builder and supplier of camera equipment for drain and sewer inspections. Rob provides detailed observations on being a first-time business owner tasked with turning a legacy business into a competitive industry leader, and how he achieved his rewarding exit.Thank you for tuning in to Views from the Market.🔗 To stay connected and receive the latest updates, subscribe to our podcast on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts🔗 Follow Stikeman Elliott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stikeman-elliott-llp🔗 For more information and resources, visit: stikeman.com/viewsfromthemarket
This podcast features Tom Stevenson, the former owner of Hub Equipment, a GTA-based heavy equipment rental company. Tom discusses the experience of selling the business, which was founded by his grandfather in 1946. He and host Mario Nigro focus on the importance of finding a strategic partner that shared Hub’s values and offered growth opportunities for key employees, while retaining Hub’s historic brand. Tom also reflects on the more personal aspects of the process that led to the sale to Cooper Equipment and on the positive experience of staying on with the company post-sale.
Special guests Nick Rotundo and Claudio Martellacci from Grewal Guyatt LLP join Mario for this edition of the podcast. Claudio and Nick discuss the unique aspects of working with mid-market companies, emphasizing their valuation specialization, one aspect of Grewal’s comprehensive advisory services in this space. They highlight the differences between low/mid-market deals and big Bay Street deals, noting that the former can often be more challenging because of owner-operators’ deep financial and emotional stakes in their businesses. The guests also share insights into current trends, such as a growing pool of ex-tech industry employees with cash to buy existing businesses that are ripe for technological upgrades.
In this episode, Mario Nigro and special guest Tiara Letourneau of Rewrite Capital Advisors discuss employee ownership trusts (EOTs) – both their history in the U.S. and U.K. and the work that Tiara and others have put into a successful push for similar, but even more flexible and innovative, legislation in Canada. The new Canadian EOT model allows employees to become owners without financial contributions, with the trust buying the shares and employees benefiting from the profit and equity, while also affording exiting owners a significant capital gains exemption. While Canada’s new EOT structure is a great exit option for a wide range of owners, Tiara is especially enthusiastic about its potential positive impact on small communities.
Mario Nigro interviews Peter Stefanovich, president of Left Lane Associates, which assists transportation, logistics, and supply chain companies with exit and acquisition strategies. Left Lane’s rapid growth shows that, with exceptional industry expertise, a sector-specific Canadian M&A shop can achieve major success. Peter and Mario discuss the volatility of the market through the pandemic period and what Peter sees as the likelihood of a strong bounce-back in M&A activity, thanks to lower interest rates and increasing AI exploitation in 2025 and beyond.
Mario’s guest, Jim Friesen of Portage M&A Advisory, discusses his experiences as a sell-side advisor to Canadian owner-operators. Portage focuses on setting realistic seller expectations, preparing the businesses for sale and finding the right buyers in a pool that’s deeper than ever (with private equity, family offices, searchers and high-net-worth individuals in the mix, in addition to strategics). While some exiting lower midmarket owners continue to attempt to sell on their own, the growing complexity of sales processes and tax issues makes it highly advantageous to work with experienced professional advisors in the great majority of cases.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro speaks with Don Hilton, founder of Distinct Capital Partners, an M&A advisory firm catering to owner-operated lower midmarket businesses. With 40 years of experience at every level of corporate finance and M&A, Don has seen the sell-side market shift toward baby boomers looking to sell their businesses outside the family. As he and Mario discuss, the key to Distinct Capital’s success is its ability to provide business owners with a complete range of expert transactional services, paving the way for a smooth and successful exit.
In this podcast, Mario speaks with Liz MacRae about the unique Village Wellth platform, which provides entrepreneurial acquirors – often in the market for the first time – with the preparation, resources, advisory services and contacts they need to find, evaluate and finance business acquisitions. The other side of the Village Wellth coin is the opportunity it gives to sellers to increase their visibility and discover potential buyers. Liz and Mario also discuss recent trends in the Canadian acquisition market, including the expanding awareness of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) and the emergence of more family and female buyers.
In this episode, David Planques of Revival Capital Partners discusses the fascinating and important role of chief restructuring officer. Distressed businesses hire CROs to solve the problems that must be overcome before a successful restructuring can proceed. Seasoned CROs like David have the skills and experience to keep stakeholders, employees and suppliers on board as the process unfolds. David concludes the discussion by sharing some of the lessons of his extensive involvement in these high-pressure situations with podcast host Mario Nigro.
This episode looks at recently published Québec regulations that are designed to provide organizations with guidance on acceptable approaches to the anonymization of personal information. Stikeman Elliott’s David Elder, Danielle Miller Olofsson and Rachel Zuroff explore what the regulations say, what they don’t say, and the significance of the distinction between “anonymization” and “de-identification”. They conclude by discussing some of the steps that may be required to comply with Québec’s regulations going forward, while recognizing that every situation is unique and context-dependent.
Mario Nigro’s guest for this podcast is Karl Sigerist, a business advisor focusing on the lower midmarket. Many of Karl’s clients are owner-operators who are thinking about exits. He and Mario discuss the value of engaging an outside advisor and, in particular, the impact that the pandemic has had on the succession strategies of many long-time operators who recognize that new energy may be needed, sooner rather than later, to drive their businesses forward in a changing world.
Mario’s guest for this podcast is Jas Dhaliwal, Managing Director at Vancouver-based Lark Street Capital. Jas and Mario discuss current trends in the market, with a focus on Lark Street’s midmarket M&A advisory work. Jas is seeing an uptick in private equity interest, likely in anticipation of rate cuts later in 2024. Baby boomer retirements remain a driving force, as many owners of quality businesses begin their succession planning in earnest. Sectors such as professional services and healthcare are among those in which Jas is seeing, or expecting to see, increased activity going forward.
In this episode, Mario is joined by Scott Stirrett of Venture for Canada, a registered charitable organization that provides training to budding entrepreneurs. Scott and Mario discuss the growing demand for entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) training in Canada and the challenges that young entrepreneurs face, notably in accessing debt financing. While Scott is optimistic about the future of ETA in Canada, he believes that policy changes to increase access to debt financing are crucial for its growth, including adapting the Canada Small Business Financing Program to include key elements of the U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) loan program.
In this edition of the podcast, Mario Nigro interviews Richter LLP’s Michael Black and Brett Miller about value creation services that can help midmarket businesses achieve their growth and transaction objectives. As Brett and Michael discuss, value creation can involve enhancing board design, optimizing processes, systems and technology and focusing the customer and product mix. Whether implemented internally or through an advisory firm like Richter, a value creation process involves long-term planning that prepares the business for expansion or sale, creating the information base to support target identification, due diligence, transaction execution, post-sale integration and succession planning.
Our guest on this podcast episode is Paul Langley of Capital West Partners, a Vancouver-based midmarket M&A advisory firm. As Paul relates, British Columbia’s diverse economy is dominated by midmarket businesses, accounting for 25% of all midmarket transactions in Canada. While it was somewhat isolated in the past, B.C. is now squarely on the radar of U.S. and eastern Canadian buyers – one reason Paul considers the outlook for 2024 and beyond to be very positive.
Mario’s guest for this podcast is Jill Chua, Managing Director at Raymond James Canada. Jill and Mario discuss midmarket M&A, with a focus on growth equity, one of Jill’s specialties. Growth equity is a niche area of investment that targets companies that have outgrown the venture capital stage but are not ready for traditional private equity. Growth equity firms provide capital and partnership to help these companies scale faster and achieve higher valuations. One key benefit for the founders is that they can often take some secondary proceeds from the cash infusion, while also retaining some ownership, freeing them to be less risk-averse than when a larger proportion of their wealth was tied up in the business.
Mario is joined by Brent Timmerman and Jody Law, Co-CEOs of Pacific West Mechanical Limited, and Mike McIsaac, CEO and Managing Director at Baker Tilly Corporate Finance in Vancouver. They discuss how Brent and Jody, as search fund operators, found and acquired Pacific West, a plumbing and HVAC service and maintenance company in Vancouver, with the help of Mike and his team, who acted as the sell-side advisors for the previous owners. The guests share their insights and experiences on various aspects of the deal, particularly on the process by which each side determined that this transaction was the right fit for them. Both sides agree that relationship building, based on candid discussions of issues and concerns, is one of the keys to closing a deal.
Our guest on this episode is Robert Bezede of Norton McMullen Corporate Finance, specialists in selling Ontario-based private businesses. Robert notes that activity in the lower midmarket is insulated from the current market headwinds because aging owners are highly motivated to sell. In addition, the pool of prospective buyers has grown, with more financial groups, high net worth individuals, search funders, and family businesses involved than previously, along with increasing involvement from the major banks. Robert also discusses his very successful YouTube channel, “FinanceKid”, which has over 30,000 subscribers.
Mike Karran of the Mintz Group speaks with Mario Nigro about Mintz’ global due diligence and investigations practice, particularly as it relates to vetting investment targets and their executives. Mike describes what Mintz’ investigations look for and gives examples of how the results can change the risk dynamics of a proposed transaction. As investors become more discerning and data-driven, investigative due diligence is increasingly seen as a standard practice in midmarket deals.
Today’s guests are founders of Toronto-based Alpha40 Capital, a self-funded search fund that is emerging as a significant force in the lower midmarket. Mohsen Manzari and Ash Buckle discuss how they became interested in entrepreneurship, honed their skills in business school, and developed a successful search fund during and after the pandemic. Anyone interested in the search fund model will be interested in their “lessons learned” and thoughts about the future.
Our guest on today’s podcast is Vimal Kotecha, a senior transactional advisor at Richter LLP with special expertise in business valuations and disputes. In the wake of the deal euphoria of 2021-22, many acquired businesses are not tracking projections, leading to a rising tide of post-purchase price disputes. Join Vimal and Mario for a wide-ranging discussion of what’s triggering these disputes, what the solutions are, and how dispute risk can be minimized in future transactions.
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Andy Love of Dallas-based Aspect Investors. Andy has been involved in the search space for about 25 years. Aspect, which he founded in 2012, has made over 200 investments, including more than 20 here in Canada. He and Mario discuss trends in the industry – both long-term and recent – and look ahead to what Andy sees as a period of continued growth over the next few years.
Mario’s guest for this podcast is Greg Duggan of Alcorn Partners. Alcorn’s investment strategy is aimed at profitable lower midmarket businesses – often family-owned enterprises – that are ready to take the next step toward professionalized management. Investments are long-term in the truest sense – up to 20 years or more – and portfolio companies can be in any industry in Canada or the U.S. As Greg notes, Alcorn’s long-term commitment is attractive to exiting founder-owners and avoids the common private equity mistake of selling too early, as well as being advantageous from a tax perspective.
In this episode, Mario speaks with Lars Hamkens and Jamie Pridham of Toronto-based Quadrivium Capital Partners. Quadrivium, an investment firm that works with executives and serial entrepreneurs in lower midmarket acquisitions, currently has a portfolio of 11 successful companies funded by groups of individual investors and generally held for the long term. The typical Quadrivium deal begins with an introduction to an entrepreneurial business operator for whom an appropriate opportunity is identified, often a situation with an exiting owner-operator. Looking ahead, Jamie and Lars are of the view that the lower midmarket is significantly insulated from macroeconomic forces and should continue to reward those who are willing to take the risks of entrepreneurship.
In this podcast, Bakari Akil of Graves Hall Capital shares his experiences in Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (“ETA”), a type of entrepreneurship that begins with the acquisition of an existing business using primarily third-party capital. While it is beginning to make its mark in Canada, ETA is mainly a U.S. phenomenon, thanks to the extraordinary availability of capital south of the border. In Bakari’s view, ETA is democratizing the deal space by providing a path to business ownership that almost anyone can follow.
In this edition, Mario Nigro speaks with Josh Axler of Flow Capital, a publicly-traded alternative finance firm that works with high-growth businesses in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Josh discusses Flow’s investment criteria, which include 25% year-over-year growth and $2.5 million recurring revenue (or $4 million non-recurring) and how it structures its involvement to be minimally dilutive and non-controlling. In the current environment, with some pullback from banks and VC firms, more high-growth lower midmarket companies are looking seriously at what Flow has to offer.
In this episode, Patricia Riopel and Enrico Magnani of Montréal-based Magnum Capital Partners share their unique journey through the search fund model, from the challenges of finding a business to acquire to their successful exit from Scribendi, an Ontario company that develops text-editing software. They also discuss their experiences as a married couple navigating this path, Patricia's perspective as the first woman to achieve a search fund exit in Canada, and their future plans to support the search community as investors.
Today’s podcast takes us to British Columbia, where Erica McGuinness has built a sell-side advisory practice with one of Western Canada’s leading firms, Sequeira Partners. Mario and Erica discuss Alberta and B.C.’s strong deal market, with emphasis on insurance M&A, where valuations are increasing as PE firms seek out brokerage consolidation possibilities. Other sectors with strong deal flow include engineering, environmental consulting and industrials.
Today’s guests, Dan Chetrit and Liroy Haddad, are co-founders of Snowdon Partners. Snowdon invests in lower midmarket businesses, both directly and as a search funder. Liroy and Dan are flexible about the level of ownership Snowdon assumes, but their philosophy is to be active, long-term partners to their portfolio companies. While its investments span Canada and the U.S., Montréal-based Snowdon is particularly noted for its experience and connections in Québec’s lower midmarket.
Mario’s guest is Kalle Kilpi, Founder and CEO of DealMap.Ai, a Boston-based business that tailors large language model (LLM) M&A solutions for active acquirors. LLMs like Chat GPT have potential applications to nearly every aspect of a transaction, from drafting, due diligence and routine correspondence to target discovery and strategic analysis. Please join Mario and Kalle for a fascinating and informative look at what could be the M&A world of tomorrow.
Mario’s guest, Ed Bryant, is the driving force behind Sampford Advisors Inc., a tech-sector sell-side advisor. He and Mario discuss the post-pandemic market, noting that buyers will still pay a good price for quality businesses but are less interested in those that are cash-flow negative. In contrast with 2020-21, growth is no longer enough: the “Rule of 40” is being more strictly applied. Among the other topics of discussion is AI, which in Ed’s view is not yet a major M&A driver but may become so within a few years.
Today’s guest is Sebastien Koechli of Helia Capital, a family office that provides “patient capital” to businesses transitioning out of their entrepreneurial phase. As a purpose-driven investor, Helia looks beyond short-term profit, making minority or majority investments (as appropriate) in businesses with long-term potential and aligned social values. While current market conditions are challenging, Sebastien reports that internally-funded Helia is continuing to find good investment opportunities.
In this podcast, Mario speaks with Matthew Hooper, CEO of Hometurf Lawn Care, about his journey from searcher to owner to seller and now CEO of a mid-sized regional home services business. Matthew talks about the search process, about entering a sector that was new to him (in which a strong relationship with the seller was critical) and about his subsequent decision to sell the business and continue as CEO as it becomes part of a larger home services group.
Mario’s guest today is Grant Wallace of Vancouver-based Relay Transition Partners, an advisory firm serving midmarket businesses in western Canada. Grant shares his insights into the British Columbia and Alberta markets, in which deals tend on average to be slightly smaller than is typical in Ontario and Quebec. Investors that are comfortable in the $5-30 million market niche will find many outstanding prospects in tech, energy, manufacturing and distribution, among other sectors. PE funds tend to focus on the upper end of this range, while the lower end is attracting intense interest from search funds. Deal flow has slowed slightly but remains healthy heading into Q3 of 2023.
Mario’s guests, Brent Timmerman and Jody Law, are co-CEOs of Pacific West Mechanical, a British Columbia company that provides HVAC and plumbing maintenance services to high-rise buildings, including condominium towers. Through their investment business, Gazelle Capital, Jody and Brent acquired Pacific West after a year-long partnered search and are now in their second year of operating the business. They discuss the attractive features of this sector – which include significant recession resistance – and their thoughts about generating further consolidation via M&A. In their view, the recent surge in interest in HVAC and plumbing businesses is affecting seller expectations but, at the same time, is not showing any signs of slowing down.
Joining Mario today is Brian Davey, CEO of NADF (Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund), a lender to Indigenous entrepreneurs across Northern Ontario. With over $50 million successfully disbursed to date, NADF is planning to take the next step: creating an investment fund that will leverage its deep understanding of Indigenous communities and their needs. In Brian’s view, infrastructure – particularly roads, transmission lines and housing – is where many of the region’s best opportunities lie.
Mario’s guest on this edition of the podcast, Brandon Lalonde of FrontWell Capital Partners, discusses FrontWell’s emergence as a key facilitator of private debt. Equally able to participate alone or in a syndicate, FrontWell lends against assets or cash flow in transition situations where a fundamentally strong business is in a capital-intensive growth phase or re-positioning after an adverse event. Current economic uncertainty is bringing this form of lending, which has been uncommon in Canada, to the fore, as interest rate pressure causes Canada’s bank lenders to tighten their lending criteria.
Mario’s guest today is Stikeman Elliott’s Khalfan Khalfan, an expert in employment-related transactional issues. Topics discussed include, among others, new statutory curbs on the enforceability of employment non-competes, Canadian approaches to post-closing retention of vendor management, independent contractor mischaracterization issues and Competition Act prohibitions on no-poach agreements and wage-fixing between unrelated entities.
Mario’s guest this week, Eric Castonguay of PwC’s Corporate Finance Group, discusses the resilience of midmarket M&A in Canada, which continues to be driven by the aging of the baby boomers, Covid burnout and a sense among corporate leaders that long-term survival requires transformative change. Private equity’s need to deploy capital is also a factor. Even so, 2023 is in many respects a buyer’s market, with today’s typical deal being more structured, more strongly diligenced and slower to close than was the case in the frenzy of 2021.
In this podcast, Mario speaks with Liz Pillon, leader of the restructuring practice in Stikeman Elliott’s Toronto office, about the role that restructuring professionals are playing in today’s M&A market. In 2023, Liz has noted a considerable increase in formal insolvency proceedings after a period in which lenders had been hesitant to initiate them. If involved early enough, restructuring lawyers can often help businesses find out-of-court alternatives, including by connecting them with investors who specialize in distressed assets. Liz and her team are currently seeing extensive “distressed M&A” interest in sectors such as real estate, distribution/manufacturing and pharma, among others.
Today’s guest, midmarket transactional diligence specialist John Caggianiello, shares his “in the trenches” view of the current state of Canada’s M&A market. After a noticeable slow-down in Q1 2023 that particularly affected tech deals and clinical (e.g. dental) roll-ups, activity seems to have increased in March and April. However, the deals that are getting done are proceeding more slowly as buyers, concerned about a possible recession, insist on up-to-the-minute numbers and greater clarity with respect to soft adjustments.
Mario’s guest this week is Michael Platt, CEO of Carma Corp. Based in Lindsay, Ont., Carma provides sub-metering services, generating data on utility usage in residential buildings and commercial enterprises. Michael attributes his success in breaking into this competitive industry to his efforts, as a self-funded searcher, to build trust with the company’s owner. He has applied the same relationship-building philosophy to the additional acquisitions Carma has made as it has expanded both geographically and in terms of its service offerings.
Joining Mario for this podcast is Ray Gingras of Coldwater Corporate Finance, who shares some of his experiences supporting owner-operators through the arduous and usually unfamiliar process of selling their businesses. While the economy may generally be slowing, Ray and his firm continue to be very busy as strategic buyers prioritize locking up the long-term value that Coldwater’s midmarket clients are able to provide.
Joining Mario Nigro is Larry Dunn of Endurance Search Partners, which has supported over 250 searchers across the U.S. and Canada since 2009. Larry and Mario discuss the current state of the market in the U.S. and Canada as well as the characteristics that Endurance looks for in successful searchers. In Larry’s view, the search sector is positioned for continued growth, even in challenging economic times.
In this podcast, Mario speaks with Sabine Veit about selling the frozen bread business she had built from scratch over three decades. The success of the business, which required infusions of capital as it grew, led to the realization that it was time to sell, and Sabine notes the critical importance of specialized advisors in what was to her the very unfamiliar world of M&A. By selling well before retirement age, Sabine has been able to move on to a new venture that has rekindled her entrepreneurial spirit.
This week’s podcast looks at the potential of Canada’s corporate midmarket from the perspective of government. Mario’s guest, the Hon. Mary Ng, is Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. Minister Ng and Mario speak about federal programs to help businesses expand internationally, initiatives that promote women entrepreneurs, opportunities surrounding the transition to the green economy and our trading relationships with the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.
This edition of the podcast features Vancouver-based Jan Simon, co-founder and managing partner of Vonzeo Capital, an international search fund investor. With a background as an investment banker and academic, Jan was involved in some of the earliest searches outside the U.S. and has been a key player in the industry’s rapid growth. Among other insights, he notes the importance of board guidance as successful searchers transition to CEO roles and discusses some of the challenges specific to self-funded searches. Looking ahead, he suggests that search funds may have advantages in challenging economic times and forecasts continued growth for the search fund model.
Today’s guest, Michelle Pickett, is a PwC partner in Toronto with a restructuring focus. She and Mario discuss the challenges facing companies in the current market environment, from overbought inventory to rapidly rising debt service costs. Avoiding a full-scale restructuring often depends on a company’s commitment to addressing issues of this type as soon as they appear, before major liquidity problems emerge. Finally, while Michelle is already noticing a rise in distressed M&A, investors do not appear to be losing interest in good midmarket opportunities.
Mario is joined today by Leon Chen and Rob Shilton, members of Kayne’s Los Angeles office. Rob and Leon, whose special focus is on growth equity for tech and tech-enabled businesses, describe the efficiency and resilience that are characteristic of the Canadian companies that make up a large part of their portfolio. They and Mario also discuss the market’s recent shift away from “grow at all costs” to a profitability focus and the opportunities that are emerging as we move into 2023.
Today’s podcast guest is Yas Ali, CEO of Ontario Home Health, a provider of medical devices that allow those with chronic illnesses to live comfortably at home. After deciding that he wanted to own his own business, Yas entered into a self-funded search process, casting his net wide and looking at hundreds of possibilities before discovering Ontario Home Health. He and host Mario Nigro discuss his diligent and patient search and how search funds are creating a bright future for midmarket M&A in Canada.
Mario’s guest in this podcast is Brian Faughnan of Osprey Capital, a leading sell-side advisor in the Canadian midmarket. The focus of their discussion is the growing presence and acceptance of private equity buyers in Canada over the past 10-15 years. In Brian’s experience, private equity firms, which in the midmarket still tend to be U.S.-based, now often comprise 80-90% of the buyer pool. As many of the firms strongly prefer ongoing co-ownership, sellers are now able to look at private equity investment as a growth strategy as much as an exit strategy.
Sheret Ross and Michael Levine of Cardata join Mario to discuss their journey from MBA students to searchers to successful entrepreneurs. A diligent and proactive search process led Sheret and Michael to Cardata, a business with an efficient solution for companies that reimburse employees for personal vehicle use. They discuss how they built upon Cardata’s existing strengths by expanding its market and focusing its messaging and look ahead to the challenges of a changing economic environment.
Michael Denham of National Bank joins Mario in this edition of the podcast to discuss the current state of M&A activity in Canada. The midmarket continues to be busy in 2023, as companies look for productivity-enhancing acquisitions that will enable them to thrive in the post-pandemic world. At the same time, labour shortages continue to pose challenges and may play a part in driving up interest rates later this year, although Michael is hopeful that rate stability and stronger growth will return in 2024.
Mario’s special guest on this podcast, Corrado Paina, has promoted Canadian-Italian trade for many years as Executive Director of the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Ontario. He and Mario look at how free trade has enhanced the ability of small and mid-sized Canadian and Italian companies, from a wide variety of sectors, to access each other’s markets.
Mario’s guest is Sanjiv Samant, manager of the Round13 Growth Fund at Toronto-based Round13 Capital. Sanjiv’s fund provides growth equity, typically in the range of $15-25 million, to companies that are approaching a liquidity event. Sanjiv and Round13 established this fund to provide the specific supports that companies need at this important stage – filling a gap in the Canadian market. Sanjiv and Mario also discuss the state of the deal market heading into 2023.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro speaks with Stikeman Elliott’s Eric Bremermann, a specialist in acquisitions involving Canadian and European businesses – particularly those from German-speaking countries. In the past year, Eric has observed a surge in interest in Canadian critical mineral sector as European firms look to low-risk, “friendly” sources of key supply chain components, including lithium.
Joining Mario is Shez Bandukwala, Managing Director of KPMG’s Corporate Finance Group in Toronto. Shez recently brought his 30-years of investment banking experience to the Canadian private equity market. He notes the differences in the Canadian vs the U.S. market with the Canadian private equity market being, as yet much smaller, somewhat less efficient, more conservative in overall leverage and, generally, a less specialized market. He discusses strategic versus private equity buyers and cultural fit. He foresees that, despite a looming recession, the middle market will continue to find new opportunities in which to invest the substantial capital available.
In this podcast, Mario is joined by Bruno Suppa, CEO of BDO Canada, an organization with a strong midmarket focus. While not downplaying the possibility of recession in 2023, Bruno foresees considerable resilience in Canadian midmarket M&A, thanks in part to factors such as the favourable U.S. exchange rate and private equity’s continuing capacity, in all economic conditions, to unlock value in small and medium businesses.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro speaks with Michele Middlemore, Managing Director of MC2 Business Advisors Inc., about the importance of understanding what truly matters to the midmarket seller. Preservation of corporate philosophy, retention of long-term employees and other non-monetary considerations are often top of mind for long-term operators entering the mysterious world of M&A for the first time. Michele’s experience has been that getting to know selling entrepreneurs as people can often be the difference between transactional success and failure.
Joining Mario is Anne Ristic, CEO of Agency Employment Services (AES). Anne, a longtime partner of Stikeman Elliott, recounts her decision to embark on a new career as of 2022, and how the search fund model allowed her to find a perfect fit in the form of AES, a growing HR back office business. She and Mario also discuss some of the challenges faced by a first-time CEO as well as the current state of the human resources marketplace.
Human capital is the subject of today’s podcast, as Mario Nigro is joined by Ian Brenner of Farber Group in Toronto. The human side of business has taken centre stage in the past few years as companies struggle to retain talent at every level. The pandemic focused corporate attention on employee satisfaction and corporate culture, while, in a new development, the possibility of recession is putting a premium on executive-level talent with experience in past downturns. Join us for Ian’s insights into what may lie ahead.
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Ryan Farkas of BDO Canada. Ryan focuses on deals in the $10m-150m range across all industries, giving him a broad perspective on the state of the market at a time of rising interest rates, inflation and instability. While deal flow remains relatively robust, transactions are more challenging to complete as buyers take more time to understand the market they are buying into. Nevertheless, Ryan’s view is that the demographic drivers of midmarket M&A are not going away, even if multiples will inevitably come down from their pandemic-era peaks.
Mario Nigro welcomes Alex Parker, co-head managing director of the National Client M&A Group at National Bank of Canada. Alex shares how National Bank’s integrated team grows its business outside of Québec while maintaining its focus on family and entrepreneur led businesses. Alex and Mario look to how different sectors are responding to recent market dynamics and Alex gives his thoughts on the “Covid fatigue” factor. Although Alex continues to see a “very robust market”, he foresees a slowdown coming.
Mario Nigro’s guest in this episode is Trish Higgins, Co-Founder and Partner of Chenmark. Chenmark is a Maine investment firm with a goal of acquiring, growing and holding on to small-to-medium sized businesses. Mario and Trish discuss Chenmark’s long-term investment perspective as it looks for steady businesses with a durable demand for their goods or services and a history of profitability that generates cash flows. Despite current uncertainty in the market linked to inflation and the possibility of reduced demand, Trish still sees lots of opportunity out there from a deal perspective.
Mario’s guest in this podcast is Duncan Ramage, head of Private Equity at Toronto-based Forum Asset Management. Duncan oversees a Forum team that invests in smaller and midmarket businesses in the infrastructure space, broadly construed to include everything from HVAC to broadband providers to outdoor billboards. Duncan discusses how Forum assesses and structures investments and how the market is shaping up as inflation and interest rates rise.
Marc Paiement joins Mario Nigro to discuss recent developments at Novacap, one of Canada’s largest and oldest PE firms. Working from the firm’s Toronto office, Marc leverages his own extensive experience as an entrepreneur in developing growth strategies for Novacap’s businesses, which come from a wide range of sectors. Looking ahead, Marc is seeing steady deal flow even as the pandemic-era exuberance dies down.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro speaks with Justin Catalano, head of the PE group at Fengate Asset Management. Toronto-based Fengate partners with entrepreneurs, bringing capital and strategic expertise to help them grow their established businesses. Justin and Mario discuss Fengate’s recent work, the effect that economic uncertainty is having on deal flow, and how the market might look in the coming year.
Joining Mario in this podcast are Philip Desrochers and Cameron Roblin of Stratos Growth Partners, a search fund focused on small and mid-sized Canadian businesses looking for a tailored succession strategy. In addition to the Stratos story, Cameron and Philip discuss their acquisition of GLP Canada Inc., a distributor of HVAC products, and the renewed interest in HVAC that has resulted from the pandemic.
Mario’s guest for this podcast is Sara Zborovski, a partner at Stikeman Elliott and leader of the firm’s life sciences and healthcare regulatory practice. As Sara and Mario discuss, the recent surge in health sector M&A has shown the importance of expert regulatory guidance relating to everything from telemedicine and medical AI technology to the compliance aspects of roll-up acquisitions of professional practices.
Mario’s guest in this episode is Stephen Rupnarain, leader of RSM Canada’s M&A Tax Services practice. Recent changes to Canadian tax laws have focused buyer and seller attention on transactional tax issues, notably depreciation. Despite the elimination of some traditional tax planning mechanisms, Stephen finds that it is still possible to achieve results that work for both sides – especially where sellers think through their tax issues well before the LOI.
In this episode, Mario Nigro is joined by Stephanie Mooney of Trivest Partners, a Florida-based PE firm that focuses on family and founder-owned businesses. Trivest, which has been active in the Canadian midmarket for many years, has recently added funds that focus on smaller businesses and minority growth equity. Despite indications of an economic slowdown, Stephanie is continuing to see strong interest in M&A across the country.
Mario Nigro is joined by Piyush Kunnapallil, CEO of Ti Foods, a GTA-based importer and distributor of Asian food brands. After developing his management skills at a multinational electronics firm, Piyush relocated to Canada where he found search funds were ready to help him achieve his goal of leading a midmarket business. He and Mario discuss the process that led to the transaction with Ti Foods, as well as Piyush’s plans for the business going forward.
Joining Mario Nigro for this podcast is Sylvia Rasic, Partner in Deloitte’s M&A Group in Toronto. Sylvia is a CPA with a broad transactional practice that often focuses on private companies in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Expectations and valuations in areas such as logistics, packaging and building products have been strongly affected by COVID-19 and, as the economy slows, uncertainty about post-pandemic pricing is creating interesting challenges for successful deal completion.
Today’s guest on the podcast is Peyman Aleagha, Founder & CEO of WebsiteBox. WebsiteBox developed and sold a popular and affordable website builder and CRM platform for real estate professionals. Mario and Peyman discuss the company’s history, from idea to success, and the key ingredients of a successful sale process: confidence, careful preparation, a clear vision and a trusted team of advisors.
Joining Mario Nigro for this podcast is Jason Sellakumar of First West Capital, a junior capital provider with 20 portfolio companies at present. Mario and Jason discuss First West’s experiences as a cash lender to businesses in need of capital beyond what is available from bank lenders and look at how market uncertainty could generate new demand for this type of financing.
Shilpa Mishra, Managing Director and Leader of the Capital Advisory team at BDO Canada, joins Mario Nigro to discuss recent financing trends in the Canadian midmarket. During the pandemic period, banks and alternative lenders, particularly U.S.-based PE funds, have shown an increasing willingness to look at midmarket deals. Mario and Shilpa discuss whether, in anticipation of further rate increases, now may be the best time for midmarket businesses to take advantage of available opportunities.
Mario Nigro’s guests in this podcast are Trevor Lwin and Bruce Moszcelt, Operating Partners of Blue Frame Capital Partners. In 2011, Trevor and Bruce were among the first in Canada to enter the search space, acquiring a business that they successfully operated for 5 years. Recently, they joined with two traditional investors to create Blue Frame, which provides financing and advice to searchers across the North American market. As they discuss, the flexibility of the search model makes it a particularly strong solution for midmarket businesses in succession scenarios.
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with Michelle Alphonso of Grant Thornton LLP about her recent experiences conducting financial diligence in midmarket M&A transactions. While opining on “sustainable EBITDA” can be a challenge in these uncertain times, Michelle and her team are able to identify and evaluate the variables that make up a company’s risk profile. Data analytics are playing an increasing role in this work – a development that has been accelerated during the pandemic.
Mario’s guest on this edition of the podcast is Shawn Neylan, a partner at Stikeman Elliott and a specialist in foreign investment issues of all types. In recent years, and particularly since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, compliance with economic sanctions legislation has been a growing regulatory issue for many Canadian businesses. Today, even small and medium-sized businesses are developing internal policies and education programs and, as Shawn notes, such efforts often require attention to not only Canadian sanctions regulations but U.S. and other foreign requirements as well.
Mario Nigro’s guest on this podcast is Leon Raubenheimer, founder of Toronto-based Zed Financial Partners, which for 20 years has specialized in connecting Canadian businesses with debt and equity financing. Leon provides insight into the factors that make a financing deal work, which include targeting the right financiers and presenting the deal clearly. While an economic recession is possible, he expects that the deal market will continue to benefit from a strong supply of uncommitted capital.
Daniel Lee of CIBC Capital Markets joins Mario to discuss the state of the midmarket tech sector after two years of pandemic-driven growth. Despite some softening in valuations, Daniel detects positive signs: investment capital “dry powder” is at historically high levels and the economy’s structural shift toward digital transformation will likely sustain a healthy investment climate.
Mario’s guest in this podcast is Lena Koke, the driving force behind Axess Law, a provider of consumer-friendly legal services focused on residential real estate, as well as will drafting and probate. Lena’s understanding of the retail sector has helped shape Axess as it continues to push the boundaries of virtual service provision in a historically conservative industry – a process accelerated by the growing acceptance of “legal tech” during the pandemic.
In this episode, Mario welcomes Ramandeep Grewal, Partner and Member of the Corporate Group at Stikeman Elliott in Toronto. Well-known for her securities law expertise, Raman is a leading advisor in the growing field of ESG. As she and Mario discuss in this podcast, it is partly because of the increasing recognition of the link between strong ESG performance and sound overall management that ESG practices are beginning to take hold in smaller non-public companies, a trend that she believes will continue.
Mario Nigro is joined by Ben Gibbons, founder of Waterpoint Lane, an investment firm that contributes growth capital to a diverse group of businesses that each promote food system sustainability. Ben and his firm partner with investors who want their investments to achieve solid economic returns and positive social impacts. Ben and Mario discuss the promising future of this sector in an environmentally and health conscious age.
In this installment, Mario Nigro is joined by Daniel Howard of Aon in Toronto. Daniel leads Aon’s transaction solutions team, with a focus on representation and warranty insurance. RWI has become a fixture of the Canadian deal market and is now becoming commonplace even for deals in the $20-$50 million range. As Daniel notes, in many transactions RWI is entirely taking the place of seller indemnities other than for fraud. Canada is quickly catching up to the U.S., where the use of RWI is nearly universal.
In this edition of the podcast, Mario Nigro speaks with Vanessa Iarocci about her transition from the M&A group of a large bank to an entrepreneurial career as CEO and business owner. Vanessa discusses how her passion for education led her, through a search fund process, to Brainpower Enrichment Programs, a growing company that provides supplementary educational experiences for high-achieving students. Among many other things, the conversation touches on some of the obstacles and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Canada.
Mario’s guests today are Asim Qureshi and Karim Kanji. Their company, OneWorld Foods Inc., has risen in just a few short years from an idea to a supermarket success story by meeting growing market demand for high-quality prepared South Asian and halal foods (under the “Tandoori Oven” and “One World” brands). In the podcast, Karim and Asim discuss the challenges they have overcome, the decision to seek outside financing, and their plans for the post-pandemic future.
In this episode, Mario Nigro is joined by Mike Fenton, President and CEO of the Toronto chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022, ACG Toronto, along with the organization’s other Canadian chapters, plays both a thought leadership role and a practical role as a preeminent forum for midmarket deal networking in this country. Mike speaks with Mario about the ACG’s history, its evolution during the pandemic and its plans for the future.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro speaks to the co-founders of Media One Group, Corey Peck and Derek Rider. While still a relatively young creative agency, Media One boasts an impressive roster of major corporate clients. Over the past few years, Corey and Derek have built on their success by turning to acquisitions, including cross-border M&A, to expand Media One’s capabilities and global reach. This bold strategy is playing a critical role in the transformation of their Toronto-based business into a worldwide brand.
Mario’s guest in this episode is Federica Nazzani, Managing Partner of Capital Assist (Valuation) Inc. Federica, who is both a CPA and a chartered business valuator, advises businesses on valuation issues arising in potential sale and acquisition scenarios as well as at other points in the business cycle. She and Mario discuss the importance of professional advisors as sounding boards for business owners, particularly in times of uncertainty.
Michael Teplitsky of Chicago-based Wynnchurch Capital joins Mario Nigro to discuss the private equity firm’s long history of investments in Canada, which extends into its current (fifth) fund. According to Michael, Wynnchurch focuses mainly on industrial and consumer products sectors and has the ability to make both smaller and more substantial investments. He is optimistic that the strong M&A market will continue in 2022 on both sides of the border.
Joining Mario Nigro for this episode of the podcast is Jean-Lou Paquet, Partner at private equity firm BDG & Partners. Founded in 2015, BDG invests mainly in the lower midmarket. While it is “sector agnostic”, BDG tends to focus on well-established traditional industrial businesses that may not recently have focused on growth opportunities.
Jennifer Chasson, President of Springbank Capital, joins Mario Nigro to discuss her M&A experiences in the lower midmarket space over the past two years. Jennifer’s clients, mainly “old economy” businesses, have attracted unprecedented attention during the pandemic, often selling at high multiples as a wider range of investors see the value in stable businesses with tangible assets.
In this podcast, Mario is joined by Garrett Clyne and Elling Dahlen, who founded private equity firm Cassiar Partners in 2020. Cassiar focuses on developing new growth strategies for small and medium-sized Canadian companies in traditional industries. Leveraging the experience of Cassiar’s diverse investor base has been one key to its early success.
Joining Mario Nigro for this podcast is Rob LeBlanc, Managing Partner of Ambit Partners, a search fund investor with a worldwide focus that most notably includes emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Rob notes that the pandemic has accelerated “baby boomer” business exits, creating many opportunities for searchers in almost every corner of the world.
Learn more about Mario's expertise here:www.stikeman.com/en-ca/people/mario-nigro
To help us understand the business impacts of COVID-19 on the healthcare industry, Mario Nigro spoke to Cathy Steiner, Principal at Origin Merchant Partners and leader of their healthcare practice. Interest in healthcare businesses has soared during the pandemic as investors search out innovators in areas like virtual and telemedicine. As Cathy notes, the technological innovation that COVID-19 has necessitated is likely to change the sector for the long term.
Joining Mario Nigro for this podcast is Charlie Gifford, Senior Partner at New Heritage Capital, which he co-founded in 2006. New Heritage focuses on founder-owned midmarket enterprises, including Canadian companies, partnering with them on a non-control basis. This “leveraged buy-in” approach focuses on growth-minded businesses looking for well-resourced and experienced support to reach their potential.
Our guest for this episode is Chris Hutchinson, Partner in EY’s M&A advisory practice. During the pandemic, high valuations and owner fatigue have created the busiest transactional climate in many years. The strong consumer products sector that Chris is seeing is driven by major changes in online buying behaviour that are likely to endure. Even so, supply chain and interest rate issues could affect the market in 2022.
Joining us for this podcast is Paul Hamam, a partner at Deloitte Canada and leader of its consumer industry corporate finance practice. Food and beverage businesses, heavily affected by the pandemic, have been a focus of recent M&A activity. As Paul notes, valuation uncertainty in the food sector, where the “new normal” for post-COVID consumer dining habits is still unclear, creates interesting transactional challenges for deal teams.
Robin Kovitz joins Mario Nigro to discuss her experience as CEO of Baskits Inc., the Canadian gift-basket business that she acquired in 2014. With a background in private equity, Robin has guided Baskits Inc. from its origins as a small catalogue-based retailer to a multichannel business with a growing emphasis on digital. This success, as she notes, has been predicated on focusing on people – employees and customers alike – and trusting that growth and profit will follow.
Mario’s guest is Howard Johnson, Canadian Market Leader at Duff & Phelps and managing director in its M&A Advisory practice. A veteran of the Canadian midmarket and a valuation expert, Howard believes that today’s high valuations and (often) double-digit multiples are likely to persist since many public companies and PE firms are cash-rich and eager to invest. Tax reform and the uncertainty of pandemic-era earnings analysis may emerge as complicating factors, however.
Doyl Burkett, Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Integrity Growth Partners, joins Mario Nigro to discuss PE investments in the software and tech-enabled business services space. Integrity typically invests $10-40m in founder-owned-and-operated businesses, often taking non-controlling positions. Doyl’s strategic focus on “underserved geographies” has generated many opportunities across Canada.
Joining Mario Nigro is George Rossolatos, CEO of Toronto-based Canadian Business Growth Fund (CBGF), a private equity investor that takes minority stakes in Canadian companies, typically those in the $10-25m revenue range, working with them to promote long-term growth. CBGF was created in 2018, with George as Founding CEO, in response to concerns that Canada needs to get better at growing its successful startups into strong midmarket players.
This episode features Jeffrey Carubba, CEO and former co-owner of Arzon, a light manufacturing business. In 2019, after many successful years, Jeff and his partner decided to enter a sale process. After pandemic-related delays, a deal was done with Jeff remaining as CEO of the reinvigorated business.
Mario Nigro’s guest Steve Divitkos is a CEO who successfully transformed and sold a midmarket IT business. Steve’s current project is his “In The Trenches” blog and podcast, which focuses on real-life challenges facing leaders of small and medium-sized businesses. He shares some of his ideas on CEO success along with his views about the current state of the market.
In this edition of the podcast, Robert Hickey of RBC discusses the dynamics of pandemic-era midmarket M&A. While Canada’s long-term private equity growth has continued, producing an abundance of available capital and attractive valuations, some midmarket deals are running up against capacity issues among buyer due diligence teams and professional services providers. Another development that Robert and the RBC team are seeing is that border controls are shifting the buyer pool significantly toward Canadian entities. Generally, however, the market is strong and promises to remain so for the immediate future.
Andrea Nickel of Celina Capital joins Mario Nigro to discuss Celina’s experiences during the pandemic. Founded in 2017, Celina is a long-term midmarket value investor that partners with management teams, generating results in the form of cash flow rather than quick exits. Business in the first half of 2021 has been brisk, as the pandemic continues to spur seller activity across all sectors. While interest rates are a wild card, Andrea believes that the market is likely to remain robust for the foreseeable future.
This podcast features Stephen Jakob, co-founder of Osprey Capital Partners, advisors to families and shareholders selling mid-sized businesses. Over the past 20 years, growing private equity activity has substantially increased available capital in Canada’s midmarket. According to Stephen, the pandemic has only exacerbated this trend, as numerous search funds, unfunded sponsors and U.S. funds join the hunt for Canadian acquisitions, with bidding wars now commonplace for even relatively small businesses.
Damian Peluso of KPMG joins Mario Nigro to discuss how financial due diligence has been affected by the pandemic. Some of the changes are practical, such as fewer face-to-face meetings and an inability to work on-site. Others are more substantive, as advisors develop new approaches to disentangle COVID-related issues from those that reflect longer-term strengths and weaknesses in the seller’s business. Looking forward, Damiano sees continuing strength in the M&A market over the next 12 months.
Our guest on this podcast is Jay Greyson of Tampa-based Supply Chain Equity Partners (SCEP), the only North American PE firm that invests exclusively in the supply chain/distribution sector. Jay discusses how pandemic-related disruptions, baby-boomer retirements and impending capital gains tax changes in the U.S. are bringing many companies to market. Canada is a significant part of SCEP’s portfolio and the firm continues to pursue opportunities north of the border.
Shivalika Handa, a corporate finance advisor and leader of PwC Canada’s technology transactions group, joins Mario Nigro in this podcast. From a technology M&A perspective, the pandemic sharply accelerated a longer-term trend of international investor interest in Canada’s tech sector, including the country’s fintech, healthcare and AI clusters. Shivalika notes that this improved access to foreign capital has lessened pressures to relocate to the U.S., with the result that Canadian tech companies are growing in place, producing more midmarket players and new M&A opportunities.
In this episode, Mario Nigro speaks with CIBC’s Christian Davis about the trends he’s seeing in Canadian midmarket M&A. The remarkable sell-side strength of the pandemic era appears to be based on a combination of long-term and pandemic-specific factors. In Christian’s view, activity is likely to remain robust over the medium term, with rising inflation being one “red flag” that he and his team are watching closely.
Sasha Cucuz joins us to discuss private equity in the real estate context. His company, Toronto-based Greybrook, makes private equity investments in residential real estate development projects in Southern Ontario and across North America. Greybrook is actively involved in managing the projects in collaboration with developers. Sasha provides his insight into the direction of the residential real estate market and discusses new opportunities, notably in the area of healthy building interiors, that have emerged during the pandemic.
Our guest in this podcast is Dr. Afsheen Afshar, founder of New York-based Pilot Wave Holdings. Focusing on smaller midmarket companies, Pilot Wave invests not only capital but also AI and other advanced technology expertise into its portfolio businesses. As an MD/PhD from Stanford University, Afsheen spent a number of years leading the data science divisions of top U.S. financial firms before moving into his current role. His recent experience includes Pilot Wave’s first deal in Canada, which he and Mario Nigro discuss before turning to the overall state and direction of the deal market.
In this podcast, Mario Nigro is joined by Rob Cherun, an Ottawa native and CEO of Stealth Monitoring, a success story of Canadian entrepreneurship. They discuss the company’s expansion from regional business to significant player in the U.S. and Canadian commercial video surveillance markets, as well as its future possibilities.
Mark MacPherson is co-founder and partner of Argyle Capital Partners Inc., a Toronto-based midmarket firm. In this podcast, he and Mario Nigro discuss Argyle’s approach of raising capital for each specific deal rather than creating a pool of committed capital and finding ways to deploy it, as well as the company’s response to the pandemic.
Glen Silvestri, co-founder and managing partner of Toronto-based Sage Capital Partners, joins us to discuss his company’s experiences as an investor in businesses at the lower end of the Canadian midmarket. While there are challenges to working in this neglected market niche, there are also many rewards.
Chip Chaikin, whose Ohio-based firm is about 20% invested in Canada, discusses the challenge of looking for deals and managing relations with portfolio companies across a closed border and refers to some of the differences in the pandemic response in Canada and the United States.
Alan Chettiar discusses the resilience he has seen, as an advisor to midmarket entrepreneurs, over the past year. The software sector has been strong throughout the period and most other sectors are now back on track, as buyers begin to price deals on a post-Covid basis.
Ross Thomas is involved in midmarket lending and discusses what he has been seeing in the Mississauga-Etobicoke (Toronto-area) market, which is home to many industrial and logistics companies, during the pandemic. Transition management and succession planning have continued to be busy.
Sean Flinn joins us to discuss how RWI is used in transactions involving PE firms and how Canada is following the lead of other countries in using it in a wider range of situations.