Altas Partners today announced that it has completed the sale of NSC Minerals Ltd. (“NSC” or the “Company”), a market-leading provider of salt products in Western Canada and the North Central United States. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

‍

‍

NSC is a leading producer of salt products to provincial, state, and municipal governments, contractors, and industrial customers. The Company offers a wide range of bulk, industrial, and packaged products used in critical applications such as road de-icing.

“Altas was a great partner to our management team,” said Neil Cameron, President and CEO of NSC Minerals. “Consistent with their approach, Altas has supported investments that have positioned NSC for long-term success. We are grateful for the insight they have provided, including supporting key strategic decisions and areas of investment across the business, and thank them for their partnership.”

“It has been a privilege to partner with Malcolm Leggett, NSC’s visionary founder, CEO Neil Cameron and the entire NSC team over the past many years,” commented Andrew Sheiner, Founder and Managing Partner of Altas Partners. “Through a collaborative partnership, we were able to enhance operational performance considerably, driven by logistics optimization and strategic capital investment throughout NSC’s network. We wish the NSC team all the best as they continue to build this wonderful business in the years to come.”

‍

About NSC Minerals Ltd.
Founded in 1988 and based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, NSC is a market-leading provider of salt for de-icing, industrial, and agricultural applications. NSC distributes product through a best-in-class logistics network to customers including provincial, state, and municipal governments, contractors, and industrial customers in Western Canada and the North Central United States.

For more information: https://nscminerals.ca

‍

About Altas Partners
Altas Partners is an investment firm with a long-term orientation focused on acquiring significant interests in high-quality, market-leading businesses in partnership with outstanding management teams. Key elements of the firm’s approach include responsible capital structures, active ownership through strategic and operational support and an emphasis on sustainable value creation. Altas invests on behalf of endowments, foundations, public pension funds and other institutional investors.

For more information: https://www.altas.com

‍

Media Contacts:

Altas Partners
Sard Verbinnen & Co.
Andrew Cole / Julie Rudnick
U.S.: +1 (212) 687 8080

‍

LONG-TERM INVESTOR ALTAS PARTNERS CLOSES IN ON Q4 DEAL TRIFECTA

‍

Altas Partners, a pioneer of long-life investing, will soon conclude its busiest quarter to date, wrapping up three transactions — two of them years in the making.

Last month, the Toronto private equity firm closed its acquisition of commercial-roofing contractor Tecta America from ONCAP.

Also in November, Altas completed a minority investment in insurance brokerage Hub International, joining existing owner Hellman & Friedman.

And before the year is out it is expected to finalize a $400-million carveout of physical-therapy school University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences from Laureate Education.

This many closings in a three-month span is rare for Altas, which maintains a slow and deliberative deal pace as part of its long-term strategy.

Founded in 2012 by Managing Partner Andrew Sheiner, a former senior Onex Corp executive, the firm makes control-stake investments in hard-to-replicate businesses and holds them indefinitely.

The strategy departs from the traditional PE horizon of three to five years.

Companies of interest to Altas possess natural advantages that will make them “just as relevant and profitable a decade from now,” Sheiner told Buyouts.

Attributes include a demonstrated track record, sector leadership and an attractive cash-flow profile.

Often these are private businesses navigating an owner-operator transition. Others have a history of sponsor ownership and are now “keen to get off the PE treadmill,” Sheiner said.

A select few emerge from an Altas sourcing process that averages 15 months, from initial engagement to completion. In some cases, as with Hub and USAHS, origination can run for more than 24 months.

On balance, Altas picks one or two companies for acquisition per year, investing up to $800 million in each.

‍

Flexibility the watchword

Along with selectivity, Sheiner said his firm’s strategy puts a premium on a “flexible” horizon. This means investing without reference to a specific timeline, focusing instead on holding assets long enough to generate maximum value.

“Each investment marks the beginning of a journey,” he said. “We partner with a like-minded management team and set out to execute on a shared vision for the business. We don’t know where the journey will take us, which is why flexibility is essential.”

Sheiner said this “optionality of ownership” is key to Altas’s differentiation in a growing club of long-term investors.

In recent years, a number of PE firms, including buyout giants Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, CVC Capital Partners and KKR, have raised billions of dollars for long-life vehicles. Several offerings have featured hold periods as long as 15 to 20 years.

Upon completion of the USAHS transaction, Altas will have made seven investments in seven years. Five of them sit in the portfolio of Altas Partners Holdings LP, which raised $1 billion in 2016.

‍

In sync with LP trends

Altas’s strategy has met with a warm reception among global institutional investors, many of which are looking to deploy larger sums to long-term opportunities. This is especially true at a time of market frothiness and uncertainty.

Such investors, including pension funds, insurers, endowments and family offices, have so far committed roughly $5 billion to the firm’s stewardship, Sheiner said.

Several have committed resources as major partners in Altas’s transactions.

For example, Altas and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec co-led a group that in 2015 invested in optometry-practices manager Capital Vision Services.

And CDPQ and OPTrust joined a 2014 consortium led by Altas and Baring Private Equity Asia to acquire medical school St. Georges University, reportedly for $750 million.

Sheiner oversees a team of 14 investment pros. Its senior members include Managing Partner Scott Werry and Partners Christopher McElhone, Paul Nicoletti, David Brent and Damon Conway.

Brent signed on in July from Apollo Global Management.

‍

Do long-life funds outperform?

Bain & Co recently examined the question of whether long-term PE funds outperform traditional funds.

Bain modeled costs and returns for a theoretical long-life fund selling an investment after 24 years versus a short-duration fund selling four successive companies over the same period.

It found the long-life fund outperformed the short-duration fund by almost 2x on an after-tax basis.

This was achieved, Bain said, by eliminating transaction fees, deferring capital gains taxation and keeping capital fully invested.

‍

KIRK FALCONER, PE HUB

On November 28, 2018, Altas Partners (“Altas”) completed a substantial equity investment in Hub International Limited (“Hub” or the “Company”), a leading full-service insurance brokerage. The transaction values Hub at more than $10 billion of total enterprise value. Altas will own its equity interest in Hub alongside Company management and employees, who are significant shareholders, and Hellman & Friedman, a leading private equity firm with offices in New York, San Francisco and London.

‍

‍

Hub has distinguished itself as the premier mid-market insurance brokerage, building on the company’s proven formula and enjoying a long and consistent track record of success in the North American marketplace. Hub remains focused on bringing global resources to the local market via its network of regional brokerage offices. The firm continues to prioritize arming its producers and support teams with market-leading products and resources, while cultivating a culture of specialization to provide the level of expertise that Hub’s customers demand. Hub is making significant investments in delivering best-in-class customer experiences, including technology that accelerates the pace at which Hub can complete transactions and provide cost-efficient solutions meeting the evolving needs of customers.

‍

About Hub International
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Hub International Limited is a leading full-service global insurance broker providing property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services. With more than 11,000 employees in offices located throughout North America, Hub’s vast network of specialists provides peace of mind on what matters most by protecting clients through unrelenting advocacy and tailored insurance solutions. For more information, please visit https://www.hubinternational.com

‍

About Altas Partners
Altas Partners is an investment firm with a long-term orientation focused on acquiring significant interests in high-quality, market-leading businesses in partnership with outstanding management teams. Key elements of the firm’s approach include responsible capital structures, active ownership through strategic and operational support and an emphasis on sustainable value creation. Altas invests on behalf of endowments, foundations, public pension funds and other institutional investors.

Altas Partners (“Altas”), a long-term oriented investment firm, today announced the acquisition of Tecta America Corporation (“Tecta America” or the “Company”). Tecta America is a national leader in commercial roofing services in the U.S.

Tecta America is the nation’s premier commercial roofing contractor, employing more than 3,000 roofing professionals and operating across more than 60 locations from coast to coast. The Company provides a comprehensive set of commercial roofing services to national and local customers across a spectrum of industries and end markets. Tecta America’s full suite of value-added roofing services includes installation, replacement, repairs and maintenance, new construction, disaster response and advanced sustainability options.

“We are thrilled to partner with Altas as we continue to execute on our growth opportunities – both organically and through selective acquisitions. Furthermore, we’re excited to leverage the firm’s support and expertise as we continue to focus on delivering best-in-class service to our customers and being the employer of choice in the roofing industry,” said Mark Santacrose, President and CEO of Tecta America. “We greatly value Altas’ confidence in our people and our future.”

“Tecta America’s strength as a national company with deep local relationships has enabled its evolution into the largest commercial roofing contractor in the U.S.,” said David Brent, a Partner at Altas. “This opportunity is an excellent fit with our long-term investment strategy and approach of partnering with outstanding management teams. We look forward to supporting the team at Tecta America as it continues to provide its customers with exceptional service and capitalize on the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead.”

‍

About Altas Partners

Altas Partners is an investment firm with a long-term orientation focused on acquiring significant interests in high-quality, market-leading businesses in partnership with outstanding management teams. Key elements of the firm’s approach include responsible capital structures, active ownership through strategic and operational support and an emphasis on sustainable value creation. Altas invests on behalf of endowments, foundations, public pension funds and other institutional investors.

‍

About Tecta America Corporation

Tecta America is the nation’s premier commercial roofing contractor with more than 60 locations from coast to coast. Tecta America’s unyielding commitment to quality, expertise, and professionalism have helped it become the industry leader in commercial roofing. Providing installation of all types, replacement, repairs and maintenance, new construction, disaster response, sustainability options and more, Tecta America offers the responsiveness of a local roofing contractor backed by the resources and stability of a national provider.

For more information: http://www.tectaamerica.com

Altas Partners is delighted to welcome Dominic Barton to the firm’s Advisory Board. Dominic is a Senior Partner and Global Managing Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Company. Dominic has tremendous international leadership experience and will bring valuable insight to Altas and our businesses. He joins Yves de Balmann, Tony Bowe, John Francis, Andrew Hauptman, David Lawee, Joe Natale and Katie Taylor as advisors to the firm.

‍

ABOUT MR. BARTON

Dominic is a Senior Partner and Global Managing Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Company. From July 2009 to July 2018 he served as Global Managing Partner, based in London. In his 32 years with the firm, Dominic has advised clients in a range of industries including banking, consumer goods, high tech and industrials. Prior to serving as Global Managing Partner, Dominic was based in Shanghai as McKinsey’s Asia Chairman from 2004 to 2009 and led the Korea office from 2000 to 2004.

Dominic is the Chancellor of the University of Waterloo, the Chair of the Canadian Minister of Finance’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth and the Chair of the Seoul International Business Advisory Council. He is also a Trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Advisory Council, and a member of the boards of Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.

He is one of the founders of FCLT Global (Focusing Capital on the Long Term), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing practical tools and approaches that encourage long-term behaviors in business and investment decision-making.

Dominic has authored more than 80 articles on the role of business in society, leadership, financial services, Asia, history and the issues and opportunities facing markets worldwide. Dominic is a co-author, with Roberto Newell and Greg Wilson, of Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises (Wiley & Sons, 2002), the author of China Vignettes: An Inside Look at China (Talisman, 2007), a co-author, with Dezso Horvath and Matthias Kipping, of Reimagining Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2016), and a co-author, with Ram Charan and Dennis Carey, of Talent Wins: The New Playbook for Putting People First (Harvard Business Review Press, 2018).

Dominic is a recipient of the INSEAD Business Leader for the World Award (2011), the Korean Order of Civil Merit (Peony Medal, 2013), the Singaporean Public Service Star (2014), the Foreign Policy Association Corporate Social Responsibility Award (2017), and Canada’s Public Policy Forum Testimonial Award (2017). He is a Rhodes Trustee and an Honorary Fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford. Dominic is also an Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing.

He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BA Honours in economics and has a M.Phil in Economics from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Altas Partners is pleased to announce that David Brent has joined the Firm as a Partner.

Prior to joining Altas, David worked in private equity at Apollo Global Management in London and New York, where he focused on sourcing, evaluating and executing deals across a variety of industries. David began his career in the Leveraged Finance group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. David earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Distinction from Queen’s University.‍

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL SCHOOLS HAVE A BAD REPUTATION. THAT NEEDS TO CHANGE, FOR THE GOOD OF U.S. PATIENTS.

‍

It’s growing ever more difficult to become a doctor. Last year, U.S. medical schools attracted more than 51,000 applications. But only about 21,000 students matriculated.

Scores of Americans who would make great doctors never even get the chance to start their medical education.

Some decide to pursue their dreams outside the United States, at international medical schools.

Doctors trained abroad are crucial in America — they account for more than a  quarter of our physician workforce.

Yet international medical schools, and those in the Caribbean in particular, have an uneven reputation.

For instance, some international schools have a reputation for being unable to place their graduates into U.S. residency programs. Their alumni may return to the United States with significant student debt and uncertain career opportunities.

The quality of international medical schools does indeed vary widely. But that’s equally true of schools in the in the United States. And the data show that the best international schools are on par with top American programs.

Given America’s looming doctor shortage, we can’t afford to undervalue graduates of international medical schools.

At first glance, U.S. med schools seem to do a better job preparing their graduates for careers in medicine. Ninety-six percent of students from U.S. or Canadian medical schools passed the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination on the first try in 2016. Just 78 percent of students from schools outside the United States or Canada did so on their first go-round.

But the data from specific international schools tell a different story. In 2015, 97 percent of students at the University of Queensland’s Ochsner Clinical School in Australia passed step 1 of the exam on the first try.  At my school, St. George’s University in Grenada, 96 percent passed in 2016.

The figures on residencies for international students look scary, too. In 2016, 94 percent of U.S. students matched for residencies. Just over half of students trained internationally did.

But again, there was wide variation among international schools. Some posted numbers on par with their U.S.-based counterparts. This year, all of the graduates of Ben-Gurion University’s medical school in Israel who entered the U.S. National Resident Matching Program secured residencies.  Last year, 93 percent of American graduates of St. George’s who applied for residencies in the United States got them.

In some ways, these international medical schools’ stats are even more impressive because their students typically enter with lower grades or MCAT scores than their U.S.-educated peers. Many students attend international schools only because they were turned down stateside.

So international medical schools tend to invest in support services that help students succeed academically and personally. The School of Medicine at University College Cork in Ireland, for example, assigns each international student a senior faculty mentor to provide advice and support.

Research has also shown that international medical graduates deliver high-quality care — in some cases, higher-quality care than doctors educated in the States. One recent study found that Medicare patients admitted to a hospital were less likely to die within 30 days if treated by an internationally trained doctor rather than one educated in the United States.

Finally, international medical graduates tend to practice in locales and disciplines where the need is greatest. For example, in areas where per capita income is below $15,000 per year, international graduates account for 42 percent of doctors.

Or take primary care. By 2030, the United States could be short 43,000 primary care physicians. International medical graduates will be the ones who fill that shortage.

More than half of medical students educated in the Caribbean choose primary care, compared to one-third of U.S.-educated students. At some international schools, that share is even higher — about three-quarters of grads from St. George’s and almost 60 percent from the American University of the Caribbean head into primary care.

In other words, Caribbean medical schools are doing a better job addressing America’s doctor shortage than their counterparts in the States.

The region’s best medical schools provide the personalized training and support needed to turn promising students into top-notch physicians. And American patients benefit immensely.

‍

G. RICHARD OLDS, THE WASHINGTON POST

G. Richard Olds, M.D., is president of St. George’s University. He was founding dean of the medical school at the University of California at Riverside.

Altas Partners, a pioneer of long-life private equity investing, agreed to buy the largest educator of physical-therapy professionals in the United States.

The Toronto investor on Wednesday announced it will pay US$400 million to acquire the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, an academic institution that provides graduate health-science degree programs, primarily in the field of physical and occupational therapy.

The 39-year-old school, which offers classroom and distance training opportunities, has campuses in San Marcos, California, St. Augustine and Miami, Florida, and Austin, Texas.

The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, will transfer ownership of USAHS to Altas from Laureate Education, a global network of post-secondary institutions. Laureate acquired a majority interest in 2013.

USAHS appears to be right in the wheelhouse of Altas, which was founded in 2012 by Managing Partner Andrew Sheiner, formerly a senior Onex Corp executive, to make control-stake investments in hard-to-replicate businesses and hold them indefinitely.

The institution’s reputation is partly based on student outcomes. Students attending USAHS had a three-year average graduation rate of 92 percent over 2015-2017, while available data point to recent post-graduation employment rates approaching 100 percent.

Conway, Altas’ point man on the USAHS deal, said the plan is to support the school’s management team, led by CEO Vivian Sanchez, and its strategy. He declined to share additional details.

Altas was created by Sheiner to invest up to $600 million in one to two deals per year. It invests selectively, with a horizon that goes well beyond the PE industry average of three to seven years. The goal is to own assets flexibly and long enough to generate maximum value.

Altas declined comment.

Sheiner expects USAHS to perform just as strongly with the investor’s help. “When you have the good fortune to own an institution like this, the largest physical therapy school in the United States, our orientation is to build it slowly and thoughtfully over a long period of time,” he said.

Macquarie Capital provided financial advice to Laureate in the USAHS deal, while Drinker Biddle & Reath was the legal adviser. Kirkland & Ellis advised Altas on legal matters.

USAHS is the third investment of Altas Partners Holdings LP, which raised US$1 billion in 2016. It was preceded by Capital Vision Services, a manager of optometry practices bought in 2015 by a group led by Altas and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and PADI, a scuba diving trainer backed last year.

The firm’s other investments are medical school St. George’s University and salt provider NSC Minerals. Altas capitalized those deals with institutional partners.

Sheiner today leads a team of a dozen investment professionals, including Partners Christopher McElhone, Paul Nicoletti and Scott Werry. Conway joined Altas two years ago from Mill Road Capital.

‍

KIRK FALCONER, PE HUB

Altas Partners has acquired a significant convertible preferred equity interest in PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), the largest scuba diving membership and diving certification organization in the world.

‍

‍

Founded in 1966, PADI is an iconic brand that has set the industry standard for scuba instructor training. PADI enjoys a leading market position globally, with more than 25 million PADI certified individuals worldwide. The Company’s members include more than 6300 dive shops and resorts and 130 000 individual PADI instructors who award close to one million consumer diver certifications each year.

Headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, with regional offices in Canada, UK, China, Japan and Australia, PADI supports the efforts of individual professional members and dive centers and resorts in more than 183 countries. The PADI system of diver education is based on progressive training that introduces safety skills, safety-related information and local environmental knowledge to student divers in stages. PADI courses are student-centered and provide maximum practice and realistic application. For more information, please visit www.padi.com.