Abitibi-Consolidated Sells Hydroelectric Facilities

On April 1, 2007, Abitibi-Consolidated Inc., a global leader in newsprint and commercial printing papers and a major producer of wood products, sold eight Ontario hydroelectric generation facilities to ACH Limited Partnership, a joint venture with the Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec. The transaction, on a consolidated basis, yielded gross proceeds of $297.5 million to Abitibi-Consolidated.

In addition to acquiring 25 per cent of ACH Limited Partnership, the Caisse provided ACH Limited Partnership a $250 million term loan to partially fund the acquisition of the facilities, with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce providing a $15 million revolving credit facility.

Abitibi-Consolidated's in-house team headed the transaction, led by Stéphanie Leclaire and Alice Minville.

Abitibi-Consolidated's external counsel was Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a team from its Montreal and Toronto offices that included Janet Ferrier, Alain Roberge, Joseph Jarjour, Monika Jedrzejowska, Sylvie Guillemette and Christopher Karambatsos (commercial); Sébastien Thériault (financing); Donald Stanbury, Gabriella Lombardi and Violetta Kokolus (real estate); Mario Cavalancia and Ronald Wilson (tax) and Alexandria Pike (environment). Abitibi-Consolidated was also represented by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP on regulatory matters with a team that included Linda Bertoldi, James Sidlofsky, Christine Long, William McLean, Paul McCarten, Andrew Collingwood and Anna Naud.

For the joint venture, the Caisse was represented by Marie Giguère, consultant, legal affairs, and by Stikeman Elliott LLP, with a team comprised of Franziska Ruf, Maxime Turcotte and Stéphanie Raymond-Bougie (commercial) and Luc Bernier and Marc-André Bélanger (tax) from the Montreal office and Brenda Hebert and Angelo Giannetta (real estate) and Larry Cobb and Ignatius Navascues (environment) from the Toronto office. Michel Deschamps and Richard O'Doherty from McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted on behalf of the Caisse and CIBC in connection with the term loan and the revolving credit facility.