LAWFUEL – Legal Newswire – New York, July 2 — Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP represented a group comprised of Providence Equity Partners, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Private Capital Group, Madison Dearborn Partners and other Canadian investors in the leveraged buyout of Bell Canada. Value of the buyout was reported as $51.7 billion Canadian dollars or $48.5 billion US, making it the largest private-equity deal in history.
Under the terms of the transaction, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will emerge with a 52 percent equity stake and, with other Canadian investors, two-thirds voting control in accord with Canadian regulation prohibiting foreign control of domestic telecommunications companies, while Providence Equity will take 32%, Madison Dearborn 9% and other Canadian investors 7%. The transaction is subject to approval by shareholders and regulators and would be Canada’s largest takeover to date.
Commenting on the epic buyout, David Duffell, lead Weil Gotshal attorney on the deal, stated, “Given the complexity of this cross border transaction in terms of the challenging acquisition process and the related financing, regulatory and currency issues, the Weil Team, with our Canadian colleagues, worked seamlessly across multiple practice groups with our clients to formulate and execute a successful strategy, culminating in this landmark deal.”
The Weil Gotshal team included in the deal:
Corporate partners: Michael Aiello, Conrad Bahlke, Matthew Bloch, Todd Chandler, David Duffell, Angela Fontana, Akiko Mikumo
Tax partner: Marc Silberberg
Associates: Hillary Chapman, Jaclyn Cohen, Matt Ellis, Heather Emmel, Matthew Gilroy, Germaine Gurr, Shayla Harlev, Katherine Krause
About Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is an international law firm of 1,200 lawyers. Weil Gotshal is headquartered in New York, with offices in Austin, Boston, Budapest, Dallas, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Prague, Providence, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Warsaw, Washington, DC and Wilmington.
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