A Letter to Our Friends and Family!
Dear Friends
Sincerely the Spara Team
Jason Sparaga, Eric Waxman, Tim Foster, Darren Slemko, Graeme Blair, Scott Vecile, Matt Mantin, Pamela Henley, Will Agnes, Shawn Lewis, Pam Johnson-Smyth
2014 Strategic Outlook: Driving and Managing Growth
We are pleased to provide you with an update on the activity that has taken place at Spara since our Summer 2013 update and give you a sense for what lies ahead for 2014. While the verdict may be out on the state and outlook of the broader economy, here at Spara Capital we are in a state of growth. Our mid-market financial advisory group had a banner year and marked a string of completed transactions in both M&A (acting as advisor on the buy and sell side) and financings. Additionally, our renewable energy development business, Spark Solar, a company co-founded and co-managed by Spara Capital, has hit its stride and is driving rapid and aggressive growth.
Our senior management team at Spark is exploring operational synergies between our two unique businesses that integrate and leverage both Spara’s transactional expertise in M&A, finance, strategy and valuation with our domain expertise in project development, asset management, and operations and maintenance (“O&M”) for the power and utility infrastructure services market.
We remain wholly committed to those sectors in our advisory business where we have significant experience: infrastructure services; agribusiness and food processing; software and technology; and transportation and logistics. We will also continue to pursue transactions in those areas where we have historically done deals such as manufacturing and business services. However, we are finding a significant market appetite for our blended offering of financial advisory, power and utility development, and management services.
Transaction Updates – Closed Deals:
Spara had a number of deals completed in recent months which include Oakville Hydro’s acquisition of G-Tel Engineering, the divestiture of a 10 MW solar PV project and the Shareholder Buyout of an online media company
Oakville Hydro’s Acquisition of G-Tel Engineering
In December Spara announced completion of the acquisition of G-Tel Engineering (“G-Tel”) by Oakville Hydro Energy Services Inc. (“Oakville Hydro”). In this transaction Spara acted as Exclusive Advisor to the buyer. The Closing of the G-Tel transaction marks Oakville Hydro’s second acquisition in the industry in 2013, following their June 2013 purchase of Niagara-based PVS Contractors Inc.(“PVS”), a transaction also lead by Spara Capital.
Divestiture of a 10MW Solar PV Project
In late fall Spara announced the closing of the sale of a 10 megawatt solar PV project located in Eastern Ontario on behalf of Spark Solar. The project, known as Sunny Shores was sold to an Ontario-based Hydro Electricity Local Distribution Company (the “LDC”). In this transaction Spara Capital was exclusive financial advisor to Spark.
Shareholder Buyout of Online Media Company
Spara advised and assisted the shareholders of an online media company in the buyout of a founding partner. Located in Toronto, the Company sources and resells advertising inventories on websites. It also consults with clients, optimizing and maximizing their online marketing and advertising spends.
Active Mandates:
We enter 2014 with a number of active mandates that we are either presently in market with, or are in the process of bringing to market, and would be pleased to discuss these with qualified financiers, investors or prospective acquirers:
- Divestiture of an Eastern Ontario construction business active in the heavy civil/infrastructure sector.
- Divestiture of a Southwestern Ontario cereal grain processing and milling business for both the human and animal food sectors.
- Shareholder buyout/funding of an underground infrastructure rehabilitation services business.
- Divestiture of a scalable and validated student information services (“SIS”) technology product focused on a significant and niche post-secondary student market.
- Acquisition of a Milton-based manufacturing business and related financing on behalf of an executive who wished to acquire a business.
- Shareholder buyout and equity recapitalization of a large North American full-service outdoor media business.
Team Updates
It is with great pleasure that we welcome three new team members to Spara Capital. Scott Vecile joins us in the role of Vice President, Matt Mantin will serve as Analyst and Shawn Lewis has been hired as a Junior Controller:
Scott Vecile, Vice President
Scott has specialized in corporate finance since 2006 and has experience performing a range of services from business valuation and M&A advisory to financial modeling for financings and transactions. Scott’s early corporate experience includes performing strategic asset reviews for a large REIT as well as building pro-forma financial models used to secure project financing of over $500 million. He then worked on formal business valuations for a large accountancy firm and several smaller practices before transitioning into transaction advisory. More recently, Scott worked in the lower-mid market M&A space completing numerous successful transactions with several boutique advisory practices. Scott obtained a degree in Commerce from Ryerson University with a double major in Corporate Finance and Economics. He obtained an MBA from McMaster University with a major in Strategic Business Valuation and is a Chartered Business Valuator (CBV).
Matt Mantin, Analyst
Matt Mantin has joined Spara Capital in the role of Analyst. He previously worked at Scotiabank as a Financial Advisor for retail clients. Graduating in 2010 from Wilfrid Laurier with an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree with Distinction, he has completed all three levels of the CFA designation and has completed the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certification.
Shawn Lewis, Junior Controller
Shawn joined Spara Capital in late 2013 as a Junior Controller. Prior to Spara, Shawn founded and built a business to provide professional services such as offsite bookkeeping and accounting solutions as well as Graphic Design, Web Design and search engine optimization for Canadian small and mid-sized companies. Shawn is a graduate of Mohawk College and holds a Business Admin diploma as well as a Marketing diploma. Currently he is finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Management in pursuit of a CGA designation.
In Other News
ACG Capital Connection A Huge Success!
This past November ACG Toronto’s Capital Connection’s annual event saw banner attendance, a full exhibition and strong sponsorship program thanks to some aggressive efforts in programming and marketing. The entire team at Spara Capital enjoyed playing a pivotal role alongside a dedicated organizing committee in re-energizing this event.
Jason Sparaga was conference chair, and along with Darin Brock of TorQuest Partners, and the Spara Team, led the charge to rejuvenate the event, now in its eleventh year. The Toronto event has been successful from inception but in recent years it had matured resulting in a slow softening in attendance, exhibition participation and sponsorship.
With a strategy focused on programming and networking, Spara helped to set a course to rejuvenate the event. There was a focus on bringing out the C-Suite to participate in, and attend the event, the introduction of a Leading Growth Award, as well as strong keynote speakers (including Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and celebrity stars of the Canadian hit show Dragon’s Den, Jim Treliving and Bruce Croxon), intensive networking events and a concentrated effort to deliver “jargon free” breakout panels. As a result of these efforts, a new level of life and excitement was breathed into the event, and by all accounts it was a giant success, filling all exhibitor and sponsorship slots and breaking previous attendance records. The Spara team are committed to participating in organizing the 2014 Toronto Capital Connection and are looking forward to planning a bigger and better event this year. For more information on ACG Toronto and the event; visitwww.acgcapitalconnection.ca.
Spark Solar Update
Spark Solar continues to grow; actively pursuing a number of initiatives and significant projects in the power and utility infrastructure services market. The Company is focused on enabling renewable energy projects for the creation of community power. The Spark Solar team now stands at 45 employees focused on project development; financing; asset management; and O&M. Specific initiatives in which the Spark team are focused include:
Constructing and Managing Solar Units for AGRIS Solar Co-operative – As manager of AGRIS Solar Co-operative, Spark continues to construct and manage in excess of 1,000 microFIT solar projects on farms and rural properties in Southwestern Ontario on behalf of the members of AGRIS Solar.
Development of a 10MW FIT Project – Spark Solar continues to lead development and oversee construction of a 10MW FIT project that they recently sold to a Southern Ontario LDC. This project will be connected to the power grid mid-2014.
Driving Growth at Northwind Solutions – Following Spark’s 2013 acquisition of Northwind Solutions, Management continues to work with the Northwind Solutions team to oversee, grow and integrate the business. Northwind is an experienced O&M and systems monitoring business focused on the Ontario renewable energy sector (Solar and Wind assets) with approximately 250MW of power under management. The Company expects 2014-2015 to be busy years, as more and more solar and wind assets complete construction and come on line.
Formation of the Green Energy Co-operative of Ontario – During 2012 Spark formed and is the Manager of the Green Energy Co-operative of Ontario (“GECO”), an organization with a mandate to create a means for community participation in green energy projects, a key priority for the Ontario government. Presently GECO is developing 18 small FIT projects throughout Ontario, which are expected to be built and connected in 2014 and 2015.
Other Opportunities – Spark continues to pursue other opportunities in Ontario to build its business both in the renewables sector and more broadly into the power and utilities infrastructure services markets. For further information on Spark Solar please visit www.sparksolar.ca or please connect with us if we can arrange an introduction for you with the Spark team.