A new partnership that includes the Dutil family’s Placement CMI has agreed to acquire Canam Group’s Canadian operation from New York-based private equity firm American Industrial Partners (AIM) for about $840mn.
Apart from the Dutil family the partnership includes, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, and the Canam ownership will be divided equally between the three Quebec investors.
The Canam Group now has more than 4,900 employees, including about 2,400 in the US with a revenue of $2.1bn in 2019. The Dutil family remains a shareholder of the US subsidiaries Canam Steel Corp. and FabSouth along with AIP, the CDPQ and the Fonds. The Canadian assets return the control to the Dutil family three years after Canam went private in a deal estimated at $845mn including debt. Canam was founded in 1961.
Dutil and partners are acquiring the Canam’s buildings and factories in St-Gédéon-de-Beauce, which employs 800 of around 2,000 Canadian employees, in Boucherville, Mississauga, Ontario and Calgary, and the Canam Bridges plants in Quebec City, Laval, and Shawinigan. Part of the purchase also includes engineering and drafting offices in India and Romania along with some operations in New Hampshire and New Jersey.