CAI lands Emerson

The Globe & Mail, Monday, November 24, 2008

Andrew Willis

CAI Capital Management landed former federal Cabinet Minister David Emerson on Monday as a senior adviser to the $1.3-billion private equity fund.

CAI, a major player in infrastructure, added to its blue-chip roster by adding the former minister of foreign affairs and international trade. A senior member of both Liberal and Conservative cabinets, the Vancouver-based Mr. Emerson was also president and CEO of lumber company Canfor.

CAI was founded in 1989 by former Alcan CEO David Culver and veterans of Wall Street investment bank Salomon Brothers. Tracey McVicar, who heads CAI's Western Canadian operations in Vancouver, said: "Mr. Emerson's deep experience in international trade and his involvement with public/private partnerships will be of inestimable value to our firm in these challenging times."

Last year, CAI was a central player in the $3.5-billion buyout of oil fields services firm CCS income Fund, one of the larger private equity takeovers done in 2007.