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Onex (TSX:ONEX) invests more than $1B into OneDigital

Finance
TSX:ONEX
17 November 2020 12:15 (EDT)
Onex - Chairman & CEO, Gerry Schwartz

Source: Bloomberg

Private equity firm Onex (ONEX) has purchased a C$1.27 billion stake in US-based strategic advisory company OneDigital.

In partnership with its affiliates, Onex purchased the equity interest from New Mountain Capital, a New York-based investment manager that previously held the majority stake.

The deal values OneDigital at approximately $3.51 billion and, now complete, provides Onex and employees of OneDigital a collective holding of 83 per cent stake in the company.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, OneDigital has more than 2,000 employees across 100 offices in the United States, and has built a reputation as a market-leading provider of health, retirement, wealth and human resources services for broad variety of businesses.

When the acquisition was proposed in early October, Todd Clegg, a Managing Director of Onex, said OneDigital is well-placed to grow both organically and through its track record of successful acquisitions.

“OneDigital has established a leading national insurance brokerage and a customer- and employee-centric culture which drives business performance,” he added.

The completion of the acquisition follows the release of Onex’s third quarter financial results, which were published on November 13.

For the three months ending September 30, 2020, the company reported US$501 million (roughly C$656 million) in net earnings, consisting of US$492 million (C$644 million) from its investing segment and US$23 million (C$30 million) from its asset and wealth management segment.

Onex saw substantial benefits from steadily recovering markets, with its private equity investments generating gross returns of 14 per cent.

“Building on our portfolio improvements last quarter, we continue to demonstrate increased momentum in our private equity and credit portfolios, resulting in a very good quarter for Onex,” said Gerry Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Onex.

Onex is currently up 0.29 per cent to C$68.56 per share at 11:52am EST.

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