Private equity fund Warburg Pincus LLC plans to take private Toronto-based alternative lender ECN Capital Corp. with a $1.1-billion buyout, the latest in a series of PE acquisitions of Canadian public companies.

Late Thursday, New York-based Warburg announced an agreement to buy ECN, run by entrepreneur and chief executive officer Steve Hudson, for $3.10 per share in cash. The offer came at a 13-per-cent premium to ECN’s closing price Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

ECN reported earnings on Wednesday and its stock price rose 11.6 per cent on Thursday to $3.07 on the TSX.

Warburg is buying a company that packages loans for modular homes, recreational vehicles and boats across North America, then sells the debt to banks and institutional investors. ECN manages US$7.6-billion in a

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