Krystle Chow’s Online Portfolio

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Dec. 31, 2007 (Jan. 2, 2008 on OttawaBusinessJournal.com)

Click here to view this article on OttawaBusinessJournal.com.

PlascoEnergy CEO Rod Bryden.
Photo by DARREN BROWN for the Ottawa Business Journal

While there’s an oft-stated fear that venture capital is dwindling in Ottawa and across the province, it seemed this year that local companies were able to find plenty of financing alternatives if they looked hard enough.

Ottawa companies have raised more than $1 billion through investment other than venture capital deals (see sidebar) this year alone, whether through private placements, venture debt deals, public offerings or grants, and it looks like this could become a bigger trend with lower levels of venture capital and as the startups that survived the tech crash mature.

One financing method that popped up in several local transactions this year was the venture debt deal, along with other types of loans. These venture debt financing rounds are much easier and cheaper to work with than equity financing rounds and help young companies avoid equity dilution, while giving them more time to raise other kinds of capital.

“As companies are getting a bit (more…)

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Dec. 31, 2007 (Jan. 2, 2008 on OttawaBusinessJournal.com)

Click here to view this article on OttawaBusinessJournal.com.

When Mitel management realized that U.S. rival Inter-Tel could be in play, there was a sense of urgency to jump on the opportunity, says CEO Don Smith. That decision indefinitely postponed an IPO the market had been expecting for a couple of years.
Photo by DARREN BROWN for the Ottawa Business Journal

The deal: Mitel Networks Corp. announced on April 26 that it was offering about US$723 million, or $25.60 per share, to buy Arizona’s Inter-Tel Inc. The deal, which closed in August, is expected to boost Mitel’s revenues to more than $800 million and give it the number-one spot in the U.S. small- and medium-sized market for business communications systems. Inter-Tel had annual revenues of $458.4 million in 2006.

The players: Mitel CEO Don Smith; Steve Spooner, Mitel’s CFO and chief integration officer; Alexander Cappello, chairman of Inter-Tel’s board of directors; Steven Mihaylo, Inter-Tel’s founder and ousted chief executive; private equity company Vector Capital Corp.; Mitel’s financing partners Francisco Partners and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments; Genuity Capital Markets (Mitel’s financial adviser); UBS Investment Bank (Inter-Tel’s financial adviser)

How the deal was done: In 2006, Mitel had been preparing to go public with an offering (more…)