Our Montreal office advised National Bank of Canada, as administrative agent to a syndicate of lenders, on a second amended and restated credit agreement to Master Group Inc. as borrower. The credit agreement will be used in connection with, among others, the acquisition by Master Group Inc. of all the shares of Value Added HVAC Distributors, Inc., and on a private equity continuation vehicle. Novacap Industries V and the continuation vehicle acquired a majority interest in the Master Group from Novacap Industries III and other shareholders. The capital raised following the transaction is C$1.1bn.

Master Group Inc. is a Quebec-based heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC) company. Novacap first acquired a 65-per-cent stake in Master Group in 2014, when the company’s operations were entirely in Eastern Canada. Over the past seven years, Master Group made ten acquisitions to expand into Ontario and Western Canada, and quadrupled sales to more than C$1bn annually. Master Group is now one of Canada’s largest HVAC/R businesses, with 1,100 employees.