More U.S.-based VCs and acquirers came up to Canada in 2012, looking for good deal flow, rational valuations and inexpensive buys.

North Plains Systems Inc., a Toronto-based marketing company, has acquired VYRE, Inc., a U.K.-based maker of marketing resource management and brand asset management software. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. UPDATE: North Plains is a portfolio company of Accel-KKR LLC, a technology-focused private equity firm based in Menlo Park, California. Accel-KKR first invested in North Plains in 2011.

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) has acquired the recently-opened Four Seasons Hotel Toronto for C$200 million. The Saudi-owned KHC, which undertakes private equity and other types of investments worldwide, increased its interest in the Canadian hotel management sector with this buy. KHC has owned shares in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts since the mid-1990s, and in 2006 took the company private in collaboration with Cascade Investment LLC, owned by Bill Gates, for C$4.2 billion.

Canadian private equity company Onex Corp. will pay $2.3 billion to acquire USI, a provider of insurance brokerage services, Onex announced Monday. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2012. Founded in 1994, USI is based in Briarcliff Manor, New York and has more than 3,300 employees. Under the terms of the deal, an equity investment of approximately $700 million will be made by Onex Partners III, in which Onex is a 25% limited partner; Onex as a co-investor in the transaction; and USI’s employees, the firm said in a statement.

Toronto-based buyout shop Kilmer Capital Partners today announced the close of a majority investment in Compact Power Equipment Centers Inc. of Fort Mill, South Carolina, a leader in the rental, service and sale of commercial and towable construction equipment. Kilmer partnered in the deal with company management and another Canadian private equity investor, TerraNova Partners LP.

Identity verification startup Trulioo has raised $2 million in seed funding from Blumberg Capital. The compnay has also recruited Google’s director of identity Andrew Nash as chief technology officer.

AEA Investors has acquired Eagle Suspension, Dallas Spring Canada and Titan Durant Land. Financial terms of the transaction, which closed Nov. 5, were not announced. Eagle-Dallas designs and engineers multi-leaf and parabolic leaf springs and support beams for aftermarket and OEM heavy-duty truck suspension systems. Houlihan Lokey advised Eagle-Dallas.

Alethia Biotherapeutics Inc., a company developing “therapeutic monoclonal antibodies,” has added $4.7 million in new financing. Investors include AgeChem Venture Fund, BDC Venture Capital, GO Capital, and Cellscript of Wisconsin. Alethia Biotherapeutics is based in Montreal.

JLD Group, which is owned by Canadian private equity firm Champlain Financial Corp., has merged with Équipements Laguë to form Groupe JLD Laguë. The merger is effective March 1, 2013, with each store retaining its brand name and logo.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has named Cheryl Eason as its CFO, a newly created position to oversee the financial and risk management operations of the $243 billion pension fund. Eason was most recently a VP for the British Columbia Pension Corporation, one of the largest pension benefit administrators in Canada, and the largest in British Columbia.