News

St. George’s University in Grenada has landed a $750 million investment from a group led by Canadian private-equity firm Altas Partners LP and a fund advised by Baring Private Equity Asia, according to a person familiar with the deal. The new investors will hold a majority stake in the for-profit college, though the original owners will collectively remain the largest single shareholder.

Canadian private equity has come a long way in a short time. A landmark year was 1983, when Gerry Schwartz founded Toronto’s Onex Corp. and acquired the Canadian subsidiary of American Can Co., then the largest leveraged buyout in domestic market history.

TORONTO PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM HIRES PROVIDENCE VETERAN Toronto-based Altas Partners, a private equity firm trying out a new model with longer-term investments, has hired a veteran of top U.S. telecom buyout fund manager Providence Equity Partners. Altas Partners, founded by long-time Onex Corp. executive Andrew Sheiner, this week brought in Scott Werry as a principal.