The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that 10 months after going public, Canaccord Genuity's private-equity arm is close to taking over a business, allowing the investment bank to try its hand at an acquisition strategy that has felled some reputable Canadian names. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that Canaccord Genuity Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition corporation the investment bank set up in July, 2017, has reached an acquisition agreement with Ontario-based Spark Power. Created in 2009 by three co-founders with capital-markets experience, privately owned Spark has 400 employees and posted $80-million in revenue last year -- 90 per cent of which came from inspecting, maintaining and servicing power and electricity assets. An exact purchase price has yet to be determined because Spark itself is in the process of three potential acquisitions. However, Canaccord's SPAC will pay 8.5 times Spark's pro forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as of June 30. At the moment, Spark is projected to report adjusted 2018 EBITDA of $25-million, which could put the price at about $200-million. Canaccord's acquisition must be approved by its SPAC shareholders.