On January 5, 2018, BCE Inc. (Bell) completed its acquisition of all of the approximately 11.4 million common shares of AlarmForce Industries Inc. (AlarmForce) for a total aggregate consideration of approximately $182 million. The Acquisition is part of Bell’s Connected Home strategy.
Bell concurrently sold all customer accounts of AlarmForce in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan to TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS) for approximately $66.5 million, a price per subscriber equivalent to that paid by Bell in the Acquisition.
Bell was represented by an in-house legal team comprised of Martin Cossette, Vice-President Legal, Jean-François Laroche, Assistant General Counsel, and Alexis Cloutier, Senior Legal Counsel; and by McCarthy Tétrault LLP with a team that included Robert Hansen, Fraser Bourne, Laure Fouin and Jessica Rousseau (corporate and M&A); Robert Nearing, Angelo Discepola and Andrew Haikal (tax); Étienne Guertin (financial services); and Geoff Hall and Marc-Alexandre Hudon (litigation). Bell was represented in the US by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with a team that included Donald Crawshaw, Daniel Lorme and Zachary Levine (corporate); Eric Queen (antitrust); and Ronald Creamer Jr. and Andrew Motten (tax).
Bennett Jones LLP represented AlarmForce, with a team that included Gary Solway, Kristopher Hanc, Kelly Ford, Eric Chernin and Duncan D’Arcy (M&A/corporate); Matthew Peters and Philip Ward (tax); and Jonathan Bell and William Bortolin (litigation).
Wildeboer Dellelce LLP acted for the special committee of the board of directors of AlarmForce with a team that included Mark Wilson, Al Wiens and Ragu Anantharajah (corporate/securities).
TELUS was represented by an in-house legal team comprised of Andrea Wood, Senior Vice President Legal Services, and Andras F. Vagvolgyi, Vice President Legal Services; and by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team led by Sidney Horn and that included Kevin Custodio, Hélia Taheri and Anne-Marie Panzini (corporate and M&A).