It is the Swiss private equity firm’s first Canadian office, and its fourth in North America. Ballard, a former director at BlackRock, will manage the team with the goal of developing a Canada-wide network. The firm has held stakes in some significant Canadian investments in the past, including Toronto Island’s Billy Bishop Airport, which was sold in February, and a Calgary-based Axia NetMedia, acquired by Bell Canada last year. (The Logic)

Talking point: Partners is the latest foreign financial institution to switch from investing remotely to putting boots on the ground in Canada. In March, Silicon Valley Bank got a licence to operate in Canada. In January, my colleague Jessica reported that U.S. private-equity firms KKR and Frontier Capital were eyeing the Canadian ecosystem. The Canadian push comes despite concerns from some major industry players—including Canadian pension giant PSP Investments—that a glut of players is leading investors to pay too much for acquisitions, like they did in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.