Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | MARCH 2016 37 | 2015 DEALMAKERS | e deal was expected to boost Ele- ment's annual earnings per share by 20 per cent based on fully annualized synergies in the range of US$90 million‒US$95 mil- lion, the company said, adding it sees the Australian and New Zealand portion of the deal as an excellent fit with its estab- lished North American operations. 2015 FOREIGN OUTBOUND ( US ) DEAL OF THE YEAR SunOpta Inc. acquires Sunrise Holdings (Delaware), Inc. for $444 million plus purchase price adjustments Mississauga, Ont.-based SunOpta Inc. acquired Sunrise Holdings Inc. from an investor group led by affiliates of Paine & Partners LLC to boost all three of the Canadian company's strategic core seg- ments: healthy fruit, healthy beverages and healthy snacks. SunOpta is a global leader in organic, non-genetically modified and specialty foods, and it sells a range of products from non-genetically modified soybeans to Na- ture's Finest orange juice. e company said the acquisition complements its exist- ing frozen-fruit and fruit-processing opera- tions and is expected to create significant operational efficiencies. California-based Sunrise is the leading processor of conventional and organic in- dividually quick frozen fruit in the United States, offering a range of products in a variety of packaging formats to both retail private label and food-service customers. With facilities in California, Kansas and Mexico, it has about $300 million in an- nual sales. Rik Jacobs, SunOpta's President and Chief Executive Officer, called the deal "transformative," saying it makes SunOp- ta the US market leader in conventional non-GMO and organic individually fro- zen fruit. e acquisition was for $444 million plus purchase price adjustments. SunOpta financed the purchase through proceeds of an offering of $100 million in common shares, a $330-million second lien loan and borrowing under its existing North Ameri- can credit facilities. 2015 CONSUMER BUSINESS DEAL OF THE YEAR Hudson's Bay Co. buys Galeria Holding for $3.9 billion When Hudson's Bay Co. entered into an agreement with METRO AG to buy Gale- ria Holding – the parent of Germany's leading department store Galeria Kauof and Galeria INNO, Belgium's only depart- ment store – it was the storied Canadian retailer's first foray onto European soil. Kauof is Germany's top department store by market share, with 103 Gale- ria Kauof locations and 16 Sportarena stores. e company also operates 16 Gale- ria INNO locations across Belgium. HBC had reportedly been bidding for the 135-year-old German company for months. Austria's SIGNA Holding, which owns Kauof 's main competitor, was also very interested in the properties, which include 59 properties in prime German inner-city locations. When it announced the deal, HBC also announced HBS Global Properties, its real-estate joint venture with Simon Prop- erty Group, was acquiring 41 Galeria prop- erties in a transaction valued at $3.9 billion. When Kauof is combined with HBC's current portfolio, which includes Hudson's Bay, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fih Avenue, Saks OFF 5TH and Home Outfitters, HBC said it will operate 464 stores with approximately 44 per cent of its sales gener- ated in United States, 31 per cent in Ger- many, 23 per cent in Canada and 2 per cent in Belgium. e acquisition has an enterprise value of $3.9 billion, including pension liabilities. 2015 DEAL TEAM OF THE YEAR Magna International Inc. Magna International Inc. told investors in January it expects total sales to rise in the area of 10 per cent this year, helped by re- cent acquisitions including that of German transmission parts-maker GETRAG. Not every deal made quite as big a splash in the headlines, but there's no question the com- pany's deal team was kept hopping in 2015. GETRAG provides the Canadian auto- parts giant with boots on the ground in China, with joint-venture relationships with Jiangling Motors Corp. and Dong- feng Motor Group Co. through a partner- ship with Ford Motor Co. in Europe. GETRAG – an 80-year-old family- owned company – is the world's ninth-larg- est producer of transmissions by volume, manufacturing 3.9-million units annually. It has 13 manufacturing and 10 engineer- ing centres across Europe, Asia and North America, with four of the manufacturing centres located in China. China represented about 10 per cent of GETRAG's revenues in 2014, and that amount was expected to grow to about 50 per cent by 2019. e GETRAG purchase was seen as part of Magna's decision to focus on stra- tegic parts. Transmissions are critical to cutting fuel consumption and emissions, which has become increasingly important as governments around the world impose environmental controls. GETRAG and

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