Onex Reports First-Quarter 2021 Results

All amounts in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated

TORONTO, May 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Onex Corporation (TSX: ONEX) today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 and an update on matters following quarter end.

“We reported another quarter of good results across our platforms. Our private equity investments continued to generate strong value and our credit platform is seeing momentum with its new strategies,” said Gerry Schwartz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Onex. “We feel confident in the opportunities ahead and our ability to continue generating meaningful value for all our stakeholders.”

Highlights

• Onex reported Q1 total segment net earnings of $472 million ($5.12 per fully diluted share), comprised of net earnings of $324 million from its investing segment and net earnings of $148 million from its asset and wealth management segment.

• Onex’ investing capital per share grew 7% in the first quarter to $78.33 (C$98.50), driven by growth in its private equity and credit investments. As of March 31, 2021, Onex had approximately $7.2 billion of investing capital.

• Onex’ private equity investments generated a gross return of 8% in the quarter.

• Onex’ share of unrealized carried interest from private equity grew to $183 million as of the end of the first quarter, an increase of $96 million from the previous quarter.

• Onex had approximately $910 million of cash and near-cash on its balance sheet as of March 31, 2021.

• During the first four months of 2021, Onex deployed more than $290 million and received approximately $70 million of realizations and distributions through its private equity investing activities. Most notable were Onex Partners V’s investment in Weld North Education and ONCAP II’s sale of Pinnacle Renewable Energy Group.

• Onex ended the quarter with third-party fee-generating assets under management of $31 billion. Run-rate management fees on this capital were $267 million.
  
  

  • In April, Onex Credit priced U.S. CLO-21 for approximately $510 million. Pro forma for this activity, Onex Credit’s fee-generating assets under management is approximately $16 billion.

  • Gluskin Sheff client capital increased 4% in the quarter, reflecting good client inflows and investment performance.

• Onex repurchased 461,300 Subordinate Voting Shares in the first four months of 2021 for a total cost of $27 million (C$34 million), or at an average cost per share of C$74.16.

Financial Results

For the three-months ended March 31, 2021, total segment net earnings were $472 million ($5.12 per fully diluted share). Investing segment earnings of $324 million ($3.51 per fully diluted share) were primarily driven by net gains on Onex’ private equity and credit investments. The first-quarter net earnings from the asset and wealth management segment totalled $148 million ($1.61 per fully diluted share), driven largely by an increase in unrealized carried interest.

Enclosed are supplementary schedules and non-IFRS measures related to Onex’ consolidated net earnings, investing capital and cash and near-cash changes for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. The financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), including Management’s Discussion and Analysis of the results, are posted on Onex’ website, www.onex.com, and are also available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. A supplemental information package with additional information is available on Onex’ website, www.onex.com.

Webcast

Onex management will host a webcast to review Onex’ first-quarter 2021 results on Friday, May 14 at 11:00 a.m. ET. The webcast will be available in listen-only mode from the Presentations and Events section of Onex’ website, https://www.onex.com/events-and-presentations. A 90-day on-line replay will be available shortly following the completion of the event.

About Onex

Founded in 1984, Onex manages and invests capital on behalf of its shareholders, institutional investors and high net worth clients from around the world. Onex’ platforms include: Onex Partners, private equity funds focused on mid- to large-cap opportunities in North America and Western Europe; ONCAP, private equity funds focused on middle market and smaller opportunities in North America; Onex Credit, which manages primarily non-investment grade debt through tradeable, private and opportunistic credit strategies as well as actively managed public equity and public credit funds; and Gluskin Sheff’s wealth management services. In total, Onex has approximately $45 billion of assets under management, of which approximately $7.2 billion is its own investing capital. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey, Boston and London, Onex and its experienced management teams are collectively the largest investors across Onex’ platforms.

The Onex Partners and ONCAP businesses have assets of $41 billion, generate annual revenues of $24 billion and employ approximately 146,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONEX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. Onex’ security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain, without limitation, statements concerning possible or assumed future operations, performance or results preceded by, followed by or that include words such as “believes”, “expects”, “potential”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “intends”, “plans” and words of similar connotation, which would constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve significant and diverse risks and uncertainties that may cause actual operations, performance or results to be materially different from those indicated in these forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by Canadian securities law, Onex is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or other factors. These cautionary statements expressly qualify all forward-looking statements in this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release may contain non-GAAP financial measures which have been calculated using methodologies that are not in accordance with IFRS. The presentation of financial measures in this manner does not have a standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar financial measures presented by other companies. Onex management believes these financial measures provide helpful information to investors. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to information contained in the consolidated financial statements have been presented where practical.

For Further Information
Jill Homenuk
Managing Director – Shareholder Relations and Communications
Tel: +1 416.362.7711

Supplementary and Non-IFRS Measures

Summarized Consolidated Net Earnings

(Unaudited)($ millions except per share amounts) Three months ended March 31, 2021		Investing(i)		Asset and Wealth Management(i)			Total
Segment income	$	324	$	226		$	550
Segment expenses		-		(78	)		(78	)
Segment net earnings	$	324	$	148		$	472
Stock-based compensation expense							(43	)
Amortization of property and equipment and other intangible assets, excluding right-of-use assets							(14	)
Net earnings						$	415
Segment net earnings per share(ii)	$	3.51	$	1.61		$	5.12
Net earnings per share
Basic						$	4.60
Diluted						$	4.59

(i)	Refer to the consolidated financial statements for segment presentation and allocation considerations.
(ii)	Calculated on a fully diluted basis.

Investing Capital⁽ⁱ⁾

(Unaudited)($ millions except per share amounts)		March 31, 2021
Private Equity
Onex Partners Funds	$	3,603
ONCAP Funds		672
Other Private Equity		834
Carried Interest		183
		5,292
Onex Credit Strategies		975
Real Estate		63
Other Net Liabilities		(12	)
Cash and Near-Cash		909
Investing Capital	$	7,227
Investing Capital per share (U.S. dollars)(ii)(iii)	$	78.33
Investing Capital per share (Canadian dollars)(ii)(iii)	$	98.50

(i)	Refer to Onex’ Supplemental Information Package for presentation considerations.
(ii)	Investing Capital per share is a non-GAAP financial measures which has been calculated using a methodology that is not in accordance with IFRS. The presentation of financial measures in this manner does not have a standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar financial measures presented by other companies. Management believes that Investing Capital per share is useful to investors as the metric is used, in part, to assess Onex’ performance.
(iii)	Calculated on a fully diluted basis using the treasury stock method. Fully diluted shares for investing capital per share were 92.3 million at March 31, 2021.

Cash and Near-Cash

The table below provides a reconciliation of the change in cash and near-cash in the quarter.

(Unaudited)($ millions)
Cash and near-cash on hand at December 31, 2020(i)	$	1,377
Private equity realizations		28
Private equity investments		(291	)
Net Onex Credit strategies investment activity		(168	)
Onex share repurchases, options exercised and dividends		(28	)
Net other, including capital expenditures, management fees, operating costs and treasury income		(9	)
Cash and near-cash on hand at March 31, 2021(i)	$	909

(i)

Includes $368 million (December 31, 2020 – $541 million) of treasury investments and associated working capital managed by a third-party investment manager and $149 million (December 31, 2020 – $122 million) of management fees. The December 31, 2020 cash and near-cash balance also includes $98 million invested in an Onex Credit unlevered senior secured loan strategy fund.