Every week, we provide an overview of insider trading, investments in local businesses and news from publicly traded companies.
Irish building materials group CRH yesterday announced the acquisition of Barrette Outdoor Living for US$1.9 billion (CA$2.4 billion). Established in Ohio, the company is a former subsidiary of Entreprises Barrette of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. In 2020, the latter had ceded control of Barrette Outdoor to the Toronto firm TorQuest Partners and the Caisse de depot, while retaining a “significant minority stake” in the company. Led by Quebecer Jean desAutels since 2010, Barrette Outdoor manufactures fences and railings for the residential market.
The chairman of the board of directors of Cogeco Communications, Louis Audet, received nearly $ 2.3 million by exercising stock options of the Montreal company, this week. Its stock has appreciated 29% over the past five years, compared to 36% for the S index.
The Montreal computer firm Alithya announced this week the acquisition of Datum Solutions, an Indianapolis company with about 150 employees. Founded in 2004, Datum specializes in services for organizations that process large volumes of data. In particular, it counts among its clients six of the 10 largest American health insurers.
Uni-Select CEO Brian McManus bought more than $145,000 worth of shares in the Boucherville auto parts distributor last week. He now owns more than $3.5 million. Chairman and CEO of Stella-Jones for more than 18 years, Mr. McManus took over as CEO of Uni-Select in June 2021. The company’s stock value nearly doubled in one year.
The young Montreal company DeepSight Augmented Reality has just concluded a financing round which brought to $1 million the funds raised since its founding in 2018. Angel investors participated as well as employees of Shopify (Ottawa) and Affirm (San Francisco). DeepSight allows you to create and consult 3D instructions that overlay industrial environments and facilitate the integration of new workers.
The chief financial officer of Héroux-Devtek, Stéphane Arsenault, made a gain of more than $115,000 by exercising options on the Quebec company last week. An employee of Héroux since 1997, Mr. Arsenault has been in his current role since 2013. This is the case for several other companies in the sector.
