Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | MARCH/APRIL 2018 35 | CANADIAN DEALMAKERS AWARDS | e acquisition of IronPlanet acceler- ates its strategy of becoming a one-stop, multi-channel company where custom- ers can buy, sell or list equipment using whichever method they prefer, whether onsite or online. Pleasanton, Ca.-based IronPlanet, backed by giant Caterpillar Inc., is a pri- vately held US e-commerce site that focuses largely on the needs of corporate accounts, equipment manufacturers, dealers and government entities. It conducts its sales primarily through online-only platforms, with weekly online auctions and in other equipment marketplaces. Ritchie Bros. said it will be combin- ing the two sales forces in the US, Cana- da and Europe. It also announced it was partnering with Caterpillar for five-year live onsite and online auctions of Cat- erpillar's used equipment. e deal will replace and expand on existing agree- ments between Caterpillar, its dealers and IronPlanet. FOREIGN INBOUND DEAL OF THE YEAR FLEETCOR Technologies acquires Cambridge Global Payments When Georgia-based FLEETCOR Tech- nologies Inc. agreed to pay US$505 million for Cambridge Global Payments, a private- ly held Toronto-based business-to-business international payments provider, it was for one reason: to expand its corporate pay- ments system across the border. FLEETCOR, a global provider of fuel cards and workforce payment products to businesses, focuses on US accounts payable. Cambridge processes over $20 billion in business-to-businesss cross-bor- der payments annually, helping 13,000 clients make international payments to suppliers and employees. e Canadian company has proprietary technology and serves small and mid-size as well as mid-cap businesses, giving its clients the flexibility of making wire transfers, elec- tronic fund transfers, dra and cheque payments in over 140 currencies. Ron Clarke, FLEETCOR's CEO, called Cambridge "a global leader in the indus- try," and said "we like the strategic fit." He also expressed a belief that the merged com- pany's global accounts-payable automation capability will differentiate FleetCor's of- fering in the marketplace "to deliver a more holistic global … solution." FOREIGN OUTBOUND DEAL OF THE YEAR Enbridge Inc. buys Spectra Energy Enbridge Inc.'s $37-billion all-stock acqui- sition of Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp. is the largest foreign acquisition ever completed by a Canadian company. It's also the most significant energy deal since oil and natural gas prices hit their worst slump in a generation in mid-2014. e ta- keover underscores the pressure on pipeline companies that must wrestle with overca- pacity and slowed dividend growth. e deal to create the largest North American energy infrastructure compa- ny, announced in September 2016, had to pass regulatory hurdles. e US Federal Trade Commission approved it, but with conditions aimed at preventing a reduc- tion of competition among natural-gas pipeline providers off Louisiana's coast. Enbridge owns the Walker Ridge Pipe- line, while Spectra has an indirect stake in the competing Discovery Pipeline. e FTC noted in a legal filing that the merger would give the merged company interests in the two competing pipelines in parts of the Gulf of Mexico. To resolve the antitrust concerns, En- bridge agreed to establish firewalls that prevent it from accessing non-public in- formation about the Discovery Pipeline, among other steps. It also agreed to notify the FTC before increasing its stake in the parent of the Discovery Pipeline or acquir- ing other pipelines in the region — a condi- tion that will remain in place for the next two decades. ENERGY DEAL OF THE YEAR Enbridge Inc. acquires Spectra Energy It's not hard to see why Canada's En- bridge Inc. shelled out $37 billion in an all-stock deal to acquire Spectra Energy Corp. of Houston. e combination cre- ates the largest North American energy infrastructure company by market value in North America, with an enterprise value of roughly $165 billion. Calgary-based Enbridge has made no secret in the past year that it was looking to diversify its business, which was heavily weighted in oil. With the sustained drop in crude prices, it was not the only energy company looking to rewrite its playbook. Spectra's sizeable natural gas pipeline as- sets gave Enbridge a way to shi its business away from its main model of moving crude from Western Canada to refiners on the US Gulf Coast. Spectra's network ships natu- ral gas to the US East Coast. e joined company will control over 30,000 kilome- tres of oil and 30,0000 kilometres of natu- ral-gas pipelines across North America, al- most perfectly balanced between the two. Combining those two networks will allow the merged entity to deliver oil or gas from all of the major production areas in North America to most of the main markets for those commodities. Enbridge shareholders will own about 57 per cent of the combined company, which is expected to deliver annual savings of $540 million by late 2018. When earn-

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