Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 21, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba B5 TUESDAY OCTOBER 21, 2025 ● BUSINESS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM BUSINESS Wellington-Altus Financial sells 25% stake to Kelso & Company for $388M A WINNIPEG-based investment deal- er is poised to exceed a $1.5 billion valuation after getting what it calls a “vote of confidence” from a U.S. private equity firm. Kelso & Company, based in New York City, plans to funnel $388 million into Wellington-Altus Financial in exchange for a 25 per cent minority stake. “We think that’s a tremendous vote of confidence,” said Shaun Hauser, Wel- lington-Altus Financial’s chief execu- tive. Wellington-Altus has ballooned since 2017. It now counts more than $40 bil- lion in assets under management and staffs upwards of 1,000 employees. Several branches fall under the par- ent company of Wellington-Altus Fi- nancial, including Wellington-Altus Private Counsel, Wellington-Altus USA and Wellington-Altus Insurance. In December, Wellington-Altus Fi- nancial announced it was looking for a new private equity partner to acquire between 20 and 30 per cent of its equity. The company said it sought a brand that shared its vision and could support its growth, while offering liquidity for existing Wellington-Altus shareholders and advisers. Or, as Hauser put it, to give longtime shareholders “the ability to realize some of their wealth on paper, in dol- lars in their jeans.” Kelso & Company was a match, Hauser said. He didn’t express worry about the firm being American, despite tension between Canada and the United States. The company has “high-quality individ- uals,” Hauser said. Its founder developed the employee stock ownership plan, where staff own shares in their employer. Wellington-Al- tus, similarly, is owned by management and its network of advisers. At least 80 per cent of Wellington-Al- tus’s shareholders have agreed in writ- ing to support the sale. The transaction is expected to close early next year; it’s subject to regulatory approval in Can- ada, among other closing conditions. Wellington-Altus will remain major- ity Canadian-owned and qualify as a Canadian-controlled private corpora- tion. The management team will stay the same and the corporate headquar- ters will remain in Winnipeg, Hauser said. Cynosure Group, a Utah-based in- vestment firm, had a 15 per cent owner- ship stake in Wellington-Altus as of De- cember 2023. It directed $40 million to Wellington-Altus that month and has, cumulatively, invested more than $100 million. Hauser said he views Wellington-Al- tus’s growth as “base camp.” “We’re not even close to the sum- mit of the mountain yet,” he said. “We couldn’t be more excited about what the next five years holds.” He’s envisioning more than $100 bil- lion in assets under management in the next three to five years. “Some of the smartest investors in the world are really putting down a lot of money as an investment with us,” Hauser said. “I think it gives us even more confidence to what the future holds for us.” Kelso has raised more than US$17 billion in capital commitments across 11 funds since 1980. In a news release, Kelso partner Bill Frayer lauded Wel- lington-Altus for its platform, culture and management team. The company is the “firm of choice for independent advisers in Canada,” Frayer’s statement reads. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ Amazon cloud outage takes down many online services around world LONDON — Amazon says a massive outage of its cloud computing service has been resolved as of Monday even- ing, after a problem disrupted internet use around the world, taking down a broad range of online services, includ- ing social media, gaming, food delivery, streaming and financial platforms. The all-day disruption and the ensu- ing exasperation it caused served as the latest reminder 21st century society is increasingly dependent on just a hand- ful of companies for much of its inter- net technology, which seems to work reliably until it suddenly breaks down. About three hours after the outage began early Monday, Amazon Web Ser- vices said it was starting to recover, but it wasn’t until 6 p.m. Eastern that “ser- vices returned to normal operations,” Amazon said on its AWS health website, where it tracks outages. AWS provides behind-the-scenes cloud computing infrastructure to some of the world’s biggest organizations. Its customers include government depart- ments, universities and businesses, in- cluding The Associated Press. Cybersecurity expert Mike Chapple said “a slow and bumpy recovery pro- cess” is “entirely normal.” As engineers roll out fixes across the cloud computing infrastructure, the process could trigger smaller disrup- tions, he said. “It’s similar to what happens after a large-scale power outage: while a city’s power is coming back online, neighbour- hoods may see intermittent glitches as crews finish the repairs,” said Chapple, an information technology professor at the University of Notre Dame. Amazon pinned the outage on issues related to its domain name system that converts web addresses into IP address- es, which are numeric designations that identify locations on the internet. Those addresses allow websites and apps to load on internet-connected devices. DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, said in a Facebook post it received more than 11 million user reports of problems at more than 2,500 companies. Users reported trouble with the social media site Snapchat, the Rob- lox and Fortnite video games, the online broker Robinhood and the McDonald’s app, as well as Netflix, Disney+ and many other services. The cryptocurrency exchange Coin- base and the Signal chat app both said on X they were experiencing trouble related to the outage. Amazon’s own services were also affected. Users of the company’s Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa-powered smart speakers reported that they were not working, while others said they were unable to access the Amazon web- site or download books to their Kindle. Many college and K-12 students were unable to submit or access their home- work or course materials Monday be- cause the AWS outage knocked out Can- vas, a widely used educational platform. The exact number of schools impact- ed was not immediately known, but Canvas says on its website it is used by 50 per cent of college and university students in North America. The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern, when AWS re- ported on its “health dashboard” it was “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.” Around 6 a.m. Eastern, the company reported seeing recovery across most of the affected services and said it was seeking a “full resolution.” Because much of the world now relies on three or four companies to provide the underlying infrastructure of the in- ternet, “when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful” across many online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. “The world now runs on the cloud,” Burgess said. — The Associated Press KELVIN CHAN AND BARBARA ORTUTAY Forge Bagel Co. nears opening day in Winnipeg, Paris Baguette eyes 10 Manitoba shops in four years Bakery scene heats up with local, global players T HE images of bagels facing St. Anne’s Road aren’t real — but they’re a sign of what’s to come. The Forge Bagel Co., which is setting up shop at 692 St. Anne’s Rd., has pic- tures of the distinctive circular bread rolls plastering its windows. Meantime, as the family-run business prepares its goods — strawberry short- cake, pumpkin pie and French toast bagels are in the works — an inter- national bakery with more than 4,000 locations is preparing its own Manitoba rollout. Paris Baguette aims to launch 10 shops throughout Winnipeg and Bran- don from 2027 to around 2030. The Forge Bagel Co., on the other hand, has circled Nov. 15 as its opening date in Winnipeg. “We call him the bagel alchemist,” said Rachelle Demetrioff, eyeing her father Glen inside their shop. Glen started as a baking hobbyist — cinnamon buns, sourdough bread and bagels were on rotation. It was a pas- time he leaned into after selling his family’s former software company, Rapid RTC, in 2021. “Once we disbanded, we said, ‘Let’s get into something a little bit more pas- sion play,’” said Glen, 56. He created his own bagel recipe — one that “resonated” with the people he’d serve to, Glen said — but he sought to learn more about the food. He uses a method where dough is rolled into balls and poked and stretched repeatedly to form bagels. It’s different than the folding used in Montreal- and New York-style bagels. The Demetrioffs advertise Forge bagels as “Polishire,” or similar to European products. To hone in, Glen and Rachelle toured bagel shops overseas. They visited around 20 in Poland and the United Kingdom last year. Most shop owners showed the Mani- tobans their production methods and answered questions. A couple toured the Demetrioffs around the facilities for 2.5 hours at a time, Rachelle said. “A lot of them were surprised — they didn’t understand why we were from Canada and there,” Glen added. “Once we explained what we’re trying to do, it was quite a unique experience.” They picked up some tips: for ex- ample, adding flavour to the dough in- stead of just on top, like infusing maple syrup and vanilla for a French toast bagel. The Demetrioffs then travelled through Montreal, Los Angeles and New York to compare bagel types. They returned home with a focus on St. Vital — an area lacking a local bagel shop, from their view. They began talks with the Sunrex apartment at 692 St. Anne’s Rd. around when the complex opened in March 2024, the property manager said. “For us, it was finding somebody lo- cal, somebody who would fit into the area,” Jenny Craig said. “Who does not love coffee and bagels?” It’s taken time to get things right, Glen said. His proofers came from France — much of the equipment has been specific to match his vision. Meantime, the Demetrioffs have built anticipation online. They put a call for bagel taste testers and drew 1,000 vol- unteers. They’ll pick around 25 people. The taste testers’ job — to decide half of the initial menu — starts in early November. Forge will regularly sell around six to eight bagel flavours; half of those will rotate out biweekly, allowing for new options, Rachelle said. Glen trials new recipes. He’s also hired bakers and a Red Seal chef; there’s four staff and he expects to hire another four to six. The crew makes “lifts,” or spreads like jams and those with cream cheese bases, to match the bagels they pro- duce. “We want this to be a place where people will bring visitors to Winnipeg,” Glen said. “We’re trying to bring that variability.” Plain bagels and other standard fa- vourite flavours will also be available. The Demetrioffs plan to operate Forge Bagel Co. on Tuesdays through Satur- days from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or until they sell out the day’s run of product. The “gold star” would be to produce around 700 bagels daily, Rachelle said. Elsewhere, production of cakes, tarts, pastries and doughnuts is the wheelhouse of Paris Baguette, a rapidly expanding South Korean franchise. The chain began in 1988, with an emphasis on French-inspired desserts. Pain au chocolat and croissant donuts are listed on its extensive menu. Since arriving in North America in 2005, Paris Baguette has opened 262 locations within the continent. An- other 500 are in development, said Nick Scaccio, chief development officer for North America. The franchise entered Canada two years ago, via Toronto. It now counts 15 Canadian stores across Ontario, Al- berta and British Columbia. Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are next on the company’s list. “We’re in the process of identifying the right partners,” Scaccio said, add- ing he expects to sign one or two Mani- toba franchisees. “(There’s) a lot of different experien- ces under one roof,” Scaccio said. “All of our products — pastries and bread — are baked on premise.” Most Paris Baguettes are designed with a 15- to 20-foot island loaded with pastries and breads, a cake preparation room that customers can see inside and a bakery. Paris Baguette usually spans 3,000 square feet per location and staffs 30 to 40 people, Scaccio said. He’s expecting to sign a Manitoba franchisee in 2026. He cited food quality and the com- pany’s commitment to “modest” pricing as its ability to grow. Traffic and sales have steadily in- creased over the past 18 consecutive quarters, Scaccio said. Paris Baguette is owned by SPC Group. The company opened its first store in Mongolia this week. gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com GABRIELLE PICHÉ PHOTOS BY MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Glen Demetrioff and his daughter Rachelle, co-founders of the Forge Bagel Co., in the new space on St. Anne’s Rd. They are planning to open its doors to the public on Nov. 15. ;