Done deals: January 25, 2024

Mullen Group & ContainerWorld Forwarding Services

Mullen Group Ltd. is acquiring Richmond, British Columbia, based ContainerWorld Forwarding Services Inc. and its subsidiaries. ContainerWorld offers supply chain solutions to the alcoholic beverage and hospitality industries. Through a network of customs and sufferance bonded warehouses, ContainerWorld provides: inventory management, freight forwarding, warehousing, and distribution services to international and domestic customers in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. ContainerWorld will operate within Mullen Group’s Logistics & Warehousing segment and it is expected to generate annual revenue of approximately $150.0 million. The transaction is scheduled to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approval and final closing conditions.

Canada Post & Deloitte

Canada Post has entered into an agreement to transition Innovapost – its IT shared-service provider – to Deloitte Canada. Deloitte will deliver and support Canada Post’s day-to-day IT operational services. The majority of the organization’s employees will be integrated with Deloitte. Going forward, Deloitte Canada will provide IT services to Canada Post and its Ggroup of companies.

GoBolt & Instock

GoBolt is working with Instock on a technology-driven warehouse initiative. They are are partnering to integrate Instock’s Automated Storage and Retrieval Solution (ASRS) into GoBolt’s fulfillment centres. This collaboration, launching in January 2024, will automate routine tasks.

TPG & Oxford Properties Group

TPG, a global alternative asset management firm, has acquired a 75 percent interest in Oxford Properties Group‘s two Class-A industrial business parks in the Greater Toronto Area: Brampton Business Park and Vaughan Business Park. Oxford has retained a 25 percent interest in the assets and will continue to manage the 5.1 million square-foot portfolio. The transaction values the portfolio at $1.3 billion. The joint venture, which is the first between TPG and Oxford, represents one of the largest private industrial real estate transactions in Canada to date.

Sanctuary AI, Giant.AI & Tangible Research

Sanctuary AI has acquired and is accumulating key IP assets related to touch and grasping, which are vital to building truly general purpose robots. These assets come from those acquired from Giant.AI and the acquisition of Tangible Research, coupled with Sanctuary AI’s independent activity. The coordination between touch sensors, that provide tactile feedback, and vision systems is critical to enabling machines that can understand and learn. Sanctuary AI holds patents on several key technologies in this space, originating from a combination of internal filings and external acquisitions.

Bison & CPKC

Bison Transport Inc. has signed an agreement with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) to provide intermodal transportation services on CPKC’s north-south corridor, connecting Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Bisons’s customers now have access to cross-border multimodal solutions, utilizing the CPKC rail corridors.