Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/791259
LEXPERT MAGAZINE | MARCH 2017 35 | 2016 DEALMAKERS | tors like Telus Corp., which already has one of the largest cellular businesses in the country and competes with Shaw directly for television and internet customers. For Shaw, wireless was the missing piece. e transaction to acquire 100 per cent of the shares of Wind's parent company changes everything. Wind, launched in 2009, has 940,000 wireless subscribers in urban areas in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. e acquisition makes Shaw the fourth-largest mobile phone company in the country. "Now we're on the same page, we're at the same level," CEO Brad Shaw said when the deal was announced. "With the transformative power of this transaction, Shaw will become a leading pure-play connectivity provider." About a month before Christmas, Toronto-based Wind announced it was changing its name to Freedom Mobile and upgrading its network to the LTE stan- dard offered by its Big ree competitors: Telus, BCE Inc. and Rogers Communi- cations Inc. e newly named Freedom Mobile has indicated that it does not plan major changes to the current plans and packages offered under the Wind brand. Executives at Shaw say they plan to even- tually sell wireless services under the Shaw brand as well. VALUE CREATION CCL Industries Inc. With a series of strategic deals over the past three years, including the acquisition of Worldmark Ltd. and Banknote Corp. of America Inc., CCL Industries has grown into a world leader in specialty label and packaging solutions. Most recently, CCL closed a deal to acquire New Jersey-based Checkpoint Systems. Checkpoint is a lead- ing manufacturer of technology-driven, loss prevention, inventory management and labeling solutions using "smart label" technologies. e deal is a classic pure play. Toronto- based CCL has 97 production facilities in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. When the transaction was an- nounced at the start of March 2016, how- ever, President and CEO Geoffrey Mar- tin said his company had been watching Checkpoint use its "technology-driven label solutions" to build a leading global position for several years. Checkpoint brings not just its blue-chip customer base with retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Target to CCL, but also a "smart label" product portfolio that in- cludes surveillance systems, radio frequen- cy identification tags, intrusion alarms and digital video recorders for retailers. On December 31, 2013, CCL's share price was C$79. ree years later, it closed the year at C$264. at is shareholder val- ue any investor would be happy with. CONSUMER BUSINESS Cara Operations Ltd. acquires Groupe St-Hubert Inc. for $414M When Cara Operations, the largest Canadian-owned restaurant company, added Québec's rotisserie chicken chain St-Hubert Group to its menu last year in a $414-million friendly deal last year, it se- cured an iconic 66-year-old brand and ac- cess to the important Québec market. Laval, Que.-based St-Hubert has a loyal base of customers who regularly eat in, order in or take out its beloved rotisserie chickens. ey also buy St-Hubert prod- ucts such as soups, ribs and sauces at na- tional retailers such as Sobeys, Loblaws and Costco. Vaughan, Ont.-based Cara, found- ed in 1883, plans to capitalize on that. It is ramping up operations at St-Hubert's two food manufacturing plants and two dis- tribution centres with new a line of Cara- branded products that can be sold across Canada. Cara's brands also include Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, Kelsey's and Montana's Cookhouse. Swiss Chalet and St-Hubert fit particu- larly well together. Where St-Hubert, with 117 restaurants, has expanded primarily in Québec with a few locations on the East Coast and in Ontario, Swiss Chalet has extended as far west as Vancouver Island, minimizing overlap. e combination of two of Canada's oldest food-services com- panies required, and received, Competi- tion Bureau approval. With St-Hubert added in, Cara will oversee 1,127 restaurants — behind only Tim Hortons' owner Restaurant Brands International Inc. and McDonald's Corp. Bill Gregson, Cara's CEO, said when the deal was announced that St-Hubert is a "Québec jewel," and will maintain its head office in the province. FOREIGN OUTBOUND Emera Inc. purchases TECO Energy Inc. for $10.3 billion Canadian energy company Emera Inc. bought TECO Energy Inc., a Florida elec- tric and gas utility for $10.3 billion in Sep- tember with an eye to US expansion. Halifax-based Emera is an electric util- ity with three regulated, wholly owned electric utility subsidiaries: Nova Scotia Power Inc., Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. and Emera Brunswick Pipeline Co. Ltd. It also has operations in the northeastern US, Atlantic Canada, St. Lucia, Grand Ba- hama and Barbados.