Equicapita Income Trust Acquires Metercor Inc.
Calgary, Canada, May 29, 2014 –(PR.com)– Equicapita Income Trust (“Equicapita”, the “Fund”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Metercor Inc. by an affiliate of the Fund. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Calgary, AB, Metercor Inc. (“Metercor” or the “Company”) is a national leader in effective water and natural gas meter installation and management programs, as well as leak detection services. The Company’s clients include municipalities, government bodies, gas co-ops, and private utilities.
Michael Cook, one of the co-founders of Equicapita, stated “Metercor represents a unique opportunity for Equicapita to derive a cash flow stream from contracted revenue sources creating a higher level of certainty for its investors – Metercor has long term contracts with Canadian municipalities and gas co-ops. Metercor is an extremely well run business with impressive systems and procedures lending itself to being highly scalable in this high growth segment. Metercor has demonstrated an ability to generate consistent cash flow, and gain access to new contracts. Metercor represents a great deal for Equicapita unitholders by providing a highly predictable cash flow stream and access to a top tier management team in a high growth segment.”
Mr. Cook further commented “We are pleased that key senior management will continue to run the business. Len Chappell, who has agreed to stay on as president, is a true leader in the Canadian metering industry and his ongoing commitment to the business was a key factor in our decision to acquire Metercor.”
The shareholders have shown their support and belief in the EquiCapita model by taking a significant portion of the deal consideration as Preferred Trust Units in the fund.
The Metercor transaction closed on May 26th, 2014 and is the second acquisition for Equicapita – Equicapita retained Ernst & Young and Burstall Winger Zammit as advisors. Ernst & Young provided financial due diligence support and Burstall provided legal due diligence and structuring support.
Equicapita is a private equity buyout fund based in Calgary, Alberta. The fund is focused on acquiring private, western Canadian businesses with enterprise values ranging from $5 million to $20 million. The fund is an RRSP eligible investment vehicle that streams the cash flow from private operating companies to its investors on a priority basis.
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