BCE Emergis and Descartes Alliance

On December 21, 2000, BCE Emergis Inc. (BCE Emergis) a leading provider of B2B e-commerce services, and The Descartes Systems Group Inc. (Descartes), a leading provider of global Internet logistics solutions, entered into a strategic alliance to offer high-performance Internet logistic solutions through a joint sales and marketing alliance. The transaction, valued at approximately $73 million, also involved Descartes’ acquisition of BCE Emergis’ transportation logistics messaging services in exchange for 1.388 million Descartes common shares and $25 million in cash. Under the joint sales and marketing agreement, BCE Emergis will sell Descartes’ DeliverNet solutions as part of its broad offering of e-commerce services to major enterprises in North America, and Descartes will offer BCE Emergis’ EIPP solution as part of its DeliverNet solution offering.

Descartes was represented by a team from Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP that included Frank P. Arnone, Chris Javornik, Paula Sawyers and Eric Moncik (corporate and securities), Gary Daniel (intellectual property), Kathryn Bush (pension benefits), Lee Shouldice (employment) and Jeffrey Trossman (tax).

BCE Emergis was represented by Monique Mercier, Senior Vice-President, Law, and Michèle Bolduc, General Counsel, Operations, and by a team from Ogilvy Renault’s Montreal office including Francis R. Legault, Solomon Sananes and Lindsay Matthews (corporate), Marc A. Tremblay (technology), Alain Côté and Sébastien Gingras (tax), and Michel Carle and Martin Rochette (labour and pensions).