Here are the top reads on deals and financial services over the last 24 hours,
FINANCIAL SERVICES NEWS
Sun Life’s asset management arm seeks private debt acquisition to aid expansion: Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial’s asset-management unit is eyeing its first middle-market private-debt acquisition as it seeks to expand into the higher-yielding investments, one of its top executives said. (Reuters)
ETF-provider Evolve Funds shuts down gender-diversity fund due to lack of investor interest: Canadian asset manager Evolve Funds Group Inc. is shuttering three of its niche investment funds, including a pioneering gender-diversity exchange-traded fund that failed to draw investor interest. (Clare O’Hara)
Maple Rock Capital Partners seeks meeting to oust Optiva directors: It may look like a simple squabble over board seats between two investors in a small Canadian public company. But the battle erupting at Optiva Inc. pits a former Team Canada hockey player against a quiet Texas billionaire accused of being a model for sexist “bro culture” in the tech industry. (David Milstead)
DEALS NEWS: MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS, IPOs and FINANCINGS
Online mattress retailer Casper slashes IPO valuation: Casper Sleep Inc., the online mattress retailer whose investors include actor Leonardo DiCaprio and rapper 50 Cent, expects its initial public offering valuation to be well below the roughly US$1-billion it commanded in the last funding round. (Reuters)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Breaking a glass ceiling: Janet Bannister has been named managing partner of Real Ventures, becoming the first woman to lead one of Canada’s largest and most active early-stage venture-capital firms. (Josh O’Kane)
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