Views From the Market

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 environmen...

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 indemnit...

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 stud...

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...

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 abo...

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...

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...

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 mar...

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 expertis...

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...

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 pot...

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 affec...

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 tr...

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 – emp...

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 pan...

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 succ...

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...

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...

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...