[HALIFAX, NS] — Two of Atlantic Canada's best-known business families have launched a private equity firm that will focus on investing in small and medium-sized Canadian businesses.
The board of directors of Halifax-based SeaFort Capital Inc., includes Scott McCain, a senior executive at Maple Leaf Foods and the son of the late Wallace McCain.
He is joined by Donald Sobey, who helped build the national grocery chain, and his son Rob Sobey, a senior manager in the Sobey firms.
SeaFort will be based in Atlantic Canada but will buy Canadian companies with profits in the $2 million to $10 million range.
The company website says the firm's investments will focus on "old economy businesses, including manufacturing and distribution companies" and will avoid technology and science-based businesses.
Rob Normandeau, former chief executive of publicly traded Clarke Inc., will head the new venture as president while Liberal MP Scott Brison will be its chairman.
"My next step is to build a top-tier investment team that will uncover opportunities in our targeted spaces, make intelligent investments and work with proven managers,'' says Normandeau in a news release.
McCain says in the release that he expects the new firm will be built on East Coast values of "strong relationships and fair dealings".
The statement doesn't specify how much capital the new venture will have when it starts up.
Michael Milligan, president of GWF McCain Financial Services, also sits on the six-person board of directors.
