Financial Services M&A

Insurance

• Intact Financial Corporation on its C$12.3-billion acquisition, together with Tryg A/S, of RSA Insurance Group Plc and related private placements of C$4.45-billion of subscription receipts.

• A shareholder of Canada Protection Plan on the sale of its life insurance distribution business to Foresters Financial.

• Standard Life plc on the sale of its Canadian business to Manulife for C$4-billion.

• Intact Financial Corporation on its C$2.6-billion acquisition of the Canadian insurance businesses (life and P&C) of AXA SA.

• Aegon N.V. on the sale of its Canadian business to Wilton Re Ltd, a subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, for C$600-million.

• Intact Financial Corporation on its sale of AXA Canada’s life insurance business to SSQ Life Insurance Company Inc. for C$300-million.

• Canadian Western Bank on the sale of its property and casualty insurance subsidiary Canadian Direct Insurance Inc. to Intact Financial Corporation for C$197-million.

• Desjardins Group on the sale of its pet insurance business to Economical Mutual Insurance Company.

• VRG Capital Corp. on the sale of Jones Brown Inc. to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

• VRG Capital Corp. in connection with its backing of a management buyout of Jones Brown Inc., and the subsequent acquisition of Pearson Dunn Insurance.

Brokerage

• Hub International Inc., Canada’s largest insurance brokerage, on the C$4.4-billion sale of Hub from Apax Partners LLP to Hellman & Friedman LLC.

• Hub International Inc. on various insurance brokerage acquisitions including, the acquisition of Seymour Alper Inc., Integro (Canada) Ltd., the insurance business of Cypher Systems Group, and Proteus Performance Management Inc.

• Performance Management, a provider of specialized pension plan governance and investment consulting.

• Verico Financial Group, a Vancouver-based provider of mortgage-loan brokerage services, on the sale of an equity interest to B2B Bank, a unit of Laurentian Bank of Canada.

Payment Cards

• Global Payments Inc. in its acquisition of the merchant acquiring business and portfolio of 40,000 merchants of Desjardins Group.

• Bank of America/MBNA Canada on the acquisition of MBNA Canada’s credit card portfolio by TD Bank Group in a transaction valued at C$8.5-billion.

• Canadian Tire Corporation on its agreement with Scotiabank regarding a strategic partnership that will see Scotiabank acquire a 20 per cent equity interest in Canadian Tire’s financial services business for C$500-million in cash.

• PayPal Holdings, Inc. on its US$400-million acquisition of Hyperwallet Systems Inc.

• Heartland Payment Systems on the sale of its share of Collective Point of Sales Solutions, a Canadian payment processor, to Elavon, Inc.

• BofA Canada Bank in the sale of its Shoppers Drug Mart credit card portfolio to the Royal Bank of Canada.

FinTech

• FleetCor on the acquisition of Associated Foreign Exchange, Inc. (AFEX), and on its acquisition of Cambridge Mercantile Corp., a business-to-business payments company, for approximately US$650-million.

• Stored Value Solutions, a subsidiary of FleetCor Technologies, Inc., on its acquisition of Buyatab Online Inc., as part of its expansion in the emerging digital-gifting space.

• TD Bank Group on its acquisition of Layer 6 Inc., a Toronto-based artificial intelligence innovator and pioneer serving the financial services industry.

Commercial Leasing

• Element Financial Corporation on its acquisition of PHH Arval, PHH Corporation’s North American fleet management unit, for C$1.4-billion in cash.

• CIT Financial on the C$1-billion sale of its Canadian equipment financing and corporate financing activities to Laurentian Bank of Canada.

• ECN Capital Corp. on the approximately C$900-million sale of its Canadian Commercial and Vendor Finance assets to Canadian Western Bank.

• Element Financial Corporation on its acquisition of GE Capital’s Canadian fleet portfolio and related operational resources for consideration of approximately C$570-million.

• The Bank of Nova Scotia on the sale of the business and assets of Roynat Lease Finance, a division of its subsidiary Roynat Inc., to Meridian Credit Union Limited.

Consumer Lending

• MCAP Financial Corporation on its C$1.5-billion mortgage purchase from Home Trust Company.

• Banco Santander S.A. on its acquisition of Carfinco Financial Group Inc. for C$298-million.

• Friedman Fleischer & Lowe LLC on its acquisition of a minority stake in SNAP Financial Group, a Vancouver-based provider of consumer and commercial lending services, for C$60-million.

• CIT on the sale of its personal computer financing business to Dell.

Wealth and Asset Management

• Royal Bank of Canada on its C$13.5-billion acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada.

• AST Investor Services Inc. (Canada) on its C$165-million acquisition by TMX Group Limited.

• The Toronto-Dominion Bank on its C$792-million acquisition of Greystone Capital Management Inc.

• CI Financial Corp. on its C$780-million acquisition of Sentry Investments Corp.

• Macquarie Group on the C$132-million sale of its Canadian retail business, Macquarie Private Wealth Inc., to Richardson GMP Limited.

• Industrial Alliance Financial Services Inc. on the sale of its subsidiary iA Investment Counsel Inc. (operating under the brands T.E. Wealth and Leon Frazer & Associate) to Canadian Western Bank.

• Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited and its Board of Directors in connection with its sale to Scotiabank.

• UBS Global Asset Management (Canada) Inc. on the sale of its Canadian fixed income, equity and balanced account business to Fiera Capital Corporation.

Asset-Based Lending

• CIT Financial on the sale of its 50 per cent interest in CIBC Equipment Financing to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Credit Unions

• Central 1 Credit Union, the largest shareholder of Credential Financial Inc., in the merger of Credential Financial Inc., Qtrade Canada Inc. and NEI Investments.

• Federation des caisses populaires de l’Ontario Inc. and Caisse Populaire des Voyageurs Inc. on the acquisition of six branches and agencies from Desjardins Credit Union Inc.

Corporate Trustee Services

• Canadian Western Bank on the sale of the stock transfer, corporate trust and employee plan services businesses of Valiant Trust Company to Computershare Limited for C$33-million.

• Equity Financial Trust Company on the sale of its corporate trust and transfer agency business to The TMX Group, Inc.

Multi-Jurisdictional Financial Services M&A

• A potential local buyer of public and private multi-jurisdictional banking assets in the Caribbean region.

Blakes Financial Services lawyers have been recognized as leaders in their field in the most recent editions of the following publications:

• Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business 

• Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 

• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Blakes is “Most Frequently Recommended” in Banking & Financial Institutions every year since the directory’s inception in 1997)

• The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada

• Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada

• IFLR1000: The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial and Corporate Law Firms 

• The Legal 500 Canada 

• Who's Who Legal: Banking

• Who's Who Legal: Canada 

• Who's Who Legal: Insurance & Reinsurance

• Who's Who Legal: Project Finance

• Who's Who Legal: Transport – Aviation Finance

• Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Banking, Finance and Transactional Lawyers

• The Best Lawyers in Canada