Wellington Financial Fund III Completes $125M Capital Raise

On October 2, 2006, Wellington Financial LP, a privately held specialty finance firm managed by a partnership controlled by fund management and Clairvest Group Inc., completed a capital raise for WF Fund III Limited Partnership, a venture debt fund structured to finance up to $400 million in new debt transactions. The fund, which carries on business as Wellington Financial Fund III, is capitalized with more than $125 million in re-circulating equity commitments from several leading Canadian institutional investors, including Clairvest Group Inc., the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan, the Canadian Medical Protective Association, Export Development Canada, Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. and VentureLink Funds. In conjunction with the capitalization of the Fund, on November 21, 2006, the Fund entered into a $20 million credit facility.

Wellington Financial LP was represented by Goodmans LLP, with a team that included Neill May, Pollyanna Lord, Simon McGrath (corporate), and Jay Feldman and Greg Aronson (banking), and in Manitoba by Doug Forbes of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, with assistance from Heather Crawford, in-house counsel to Clairvest Group Inc. The lender was represented by Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, with a team that included Michael Wunder and Charles Rich.