Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last week,
Canada’s biggest pension plans to provide $3.2-billion in financing for Intact’s proposed RSA takeover: Canada’s three biggest pension plans have confirmed they will back Intact Financial Corp.'s global expansion plans by agreeing to purchase $3.2-billion of the insurer’s shares as part of a major takeover. (David Milstead and Tim Kiladze)
Apollo Global to acquire Great Canadian Gaming in $2.1-billion deal: U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management is buying Great Canadian Gaming in a $2.1-billion deal that rescues the casino operator from its financial struggles as many facilities remain closed due to the pandemic. But Great Canadian’s second-largest shareholder heavily criticized the deal, saying it is being sold too cheaply to a foreign player during a crisis, and pledged to vote against it. (Jeffery Jones)
Home Capital seeing strong mortgage repayment rates as pandemic-related deferrals end: Home Capital Group has ended 97 per cent of the payment deferrals on mortgages that it granted to clients amid the coronavirus pandemic without a spike in write-offs or delinquent loans, according to the alternative mortgage lender’s third-quarter financial results. (James Bradshaw)
CPPIB and partner TPG Capital double down on cruise industry: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Texas-based private equity fund TPG Capital LP have pumped an extra US$500-million into the parent of Viking Cruises Ltd., just as the hope of an eventual end to the COVID-19 pandemic promises to rescue their investment. (David Milstead)
GardaWorld’s Crétier picks a fight with the Caisse that he can’t afford to lose: In little more than two decades, Stéphan Crétier has built GardaWorld from a tiny outfit transporting cash for Quebec’s caisses populaires into a top-five global security firm with annual revenues of about $3.8-billion. And he is not about to stop now, even if it means taking on the Caisse. (Konrad Yakabuski)
Bank of Montreal hires new CFO from U.S. rival: Bank of Montreal has poached its next chief financial officer from the ranks of a U.S. competitor, hiring Tayfun Tuzun as current finance chief Tom Flynn prepares to step aside. He is currently chief financial officer at Ohio-based Fifth Third Bancorp, one of the largest lenders in the Midwestern United States and a direct competitor to BMO’s U.S. arm, BMO Harris Bank. (James Bradshaw)
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