Pine Hill Capital and Manitoba First Fund Announce Partnership

Winnipeg, Manitoba – August 16, 2024 – Pine Hill Capital Ltd. (“Pine Hill”) and Manitoba First Fund (“MFF”) are pleased to announce the launch of Pine Hill Manitoba Investments LP (“Pine Hill Manitoba”). Pine Hill Manitoba is a partnership designed to allow MFF to deploy capital alongside Pine Hill for the purpose of investing in Manitoba based businesses. MFF has committed $5 million to Pine Hill Manitoba. Pine Hill Manitoba will provide Manitoba based business owners in the small business space (generally $1 to $5 million of annual cash flow) with access to capital for both exit strategies and growth opportunities. Concurrent with the establishment of Pine Hill Manitoba, Pine Hill is pleased to announce Pine Hill Manitoba will be represented by two Winnipeg residents, Brad Klassen and Art Pauls. Brad is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a partner of Fort Group Chartered Professional Accountants Inc. where he focuses on private business enterprises. Art is an experienced businessman and entrepreneur, having founded Gateway Kitchen + Bath in 1983.

Pine Hill is a Calgary based family fund, with Winnipeg roots. Its patriarch is Helmut Peters, who practiced architecture and was involved in real estate development and construction in Winnipeg for many years. Pine Hill is managed by Peter Spencer, Helmut’s grandson, who has nearly ten years’ experience in the private company investment space. His background is in geology, and he has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business. Peter works with Richard Peters and David Spencer. Both Richard and David are business lawyers. Richard currently serves as general counsel to a Calgary family office and David practiced M&A law with Bennett Jones in Calgary until his retirement a few years ago.

Peter Spencer, Managing Director of Pine Hill stated that “we are excited to be able to partner with Manitoba First as we believe that there are many business owners in Manitoba addressing growth opportunities or facing succession issues who will be well-served by having Pine Hill Manitoba as an alternative. We believe we can structure opportunities that are attractive to these business owners, as compared to what might be offered by traditional financing sources.”
Ken Ross, CEO of the Manitoba First Fund stated that “we are very pleased to be able to enter into a partnership with Pine Hill which has a focus on smaller businesses that are often overlooked.”