OMERS Private Equity exec Ebrahimi departs for H&F-owned Caliber

Hami Ebrahimi, a managing director of OMERS Private Equity, left the firm this month, a person with knowledge of the matter told Buyouts.

Ebrahimi departed to join Caliber Collision Centers, a Lewisville, Texas, auto repair chain, the source said. Caliber was acquired last year by Hellman & Friedman from OMERS, which retained a minority interest. H&F merged the business with Abra Auto Body & Glass.

Ebrahimi will be Caliber’s president of Protech Automotive Solutions, an on-site diagnostic scanning tool, the source said.

Ebrahimi joined OMERS in 2010 as a member of the operations and strategy group. During his tenure, he worked with investment and management teams to assess new PE deals and define and execute post-acquisition value-creation activities. He was involved with several portfolio companies, including Caliber, which OMERS bought in 2013.

Other OMERS-backed businesses supported by Ebrahimi include Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, CBI Health Group, Great Expressions Dental Centers, Logibec and MatrixCare.

Before OMERS, Ebrahimi was a consultant with Bain & Company, where he focused on corporate strategy and business-operation improvements. He started his career as a consultant with Deloitte.

OMERS Private Equity, which had net assets of C$15.7 billion ($11.2 billion; €10.3 billion) at the end of December, recently saw a change in its top leadership. Michael Graham became OMERS’ global head of private equity in April, replacing Mark Redman, who held the job for nearly five years. Graham formerly led the PE team in North America.

In his first interview since taking on the new role, Graham told Buyouts that OMERS will continue the pioneering direct investment strategy it launched 14 years ago. He added that OMERS sees “lots of opportunities for buying great companies at better prices” in a global economy battered by the covid-19 pandemic.

OMERS in early 2020 closed its first new platform investment in more than a year, acquiring Community Vet Partners, a Philadelphia network of animal hospitals, from Cortec Group. The deal had an implied value of $600 million, PE Hub reported.

OMERS declined to comment on this story.

Action item: Reach OMERS Private Equity at its Toronto headquarters here: 416-369-2400