Bell Canada Acquires The Source from InterTAN Canada for $135M

On July 1, 2009, Bell Canada completed its acquisition of The Source By Circuit City, a Canadian electronics retailer, as a going concern from InterTAN Canada Ltd., a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Circuit City Stores Inc. The acquisition was the result of an extensive court-supervised auction process that began after InterTAN Canada commenced a voluntary proceeding under the CCAA in Ontario on November 10, 2008. The deal was valued at $135 million.

InterTAN was advised in-house by Mark Wong, vice president and general counsel, and represented through the CCAA and sales process by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, with a team led by Geoffrey Taber and Marc Wasserman that included Jeffrey Murray and Blair Wiley (corporate); Edward Sellers (insolvency and restructuring); Jeremy Dacks and Gillian Scott (litigation); Dale Seymour and Lida Bucyk (financial services); Rod Davidge, Janice Bayani and Ilana Cohen (real estate); John Cotter and Kelly Moffatt, (intellectual property); Dov Begun (tax) and Paul Crampton and Paul Winton (competition).

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP represented Circuit City with a team in the US that included Gregg Galardi, Chris Dickerson and David Conway.

Bell's legal team was led in-house by Ruby Barber, assistant general counsel, and assisted by Stikeman Elliott LLP, with a team that included Sean Vanderpol and Jillian Kovensky (corporate), Ashley Taylor (bankruptcy and insolvency), Mario Paura, Savvas Kotsopoulos and Andy Gibbons (real estate), Jeffrey Brown, Paul Collins and Jennifer MacArthur (competition), Lorna Cuthbert (labour and employment) and Justine Whitehead (intellectual property). James Leshaw and Aaron Honaker (bankruptcy) and Manuel Valcarcel (intellectual property) of Greenberg Traurig, LLP acted as US legal advisors to Bell.

Goodmans LLP represented Alvarez & Marsal Canada ULC, court-appointed monitor to InterTAN Canada, with a team that included Joseph Latham, Jay Carfagnini and Logan Willis (insolvency and restructuring); Fred Myers and Lauren Butti (litigation); Grant McGlaughlin and Ryan Szainwald (corporate); Jean Anderson (financial services) and Ken Herlin (real estate).

The Alvarez & Marsal Canada ULC team consisted of Douglas McIntosh, Al Hutchens, Melanie Mackenzie and Stephen Moore.

Ogilvy Renault LLP represented the lending syndicate for InterTAN's debtor-in-possession credit facility, with a team that included Kevin Morley (finance and restructuring), Mario Forte and Evan Cobb (insolvency and restructuring), Orestes Pasparakis (litigation) and Arnold Cohen (finance).

Reimer & Braunstein LLP represented the lending syndicate for Circuit City in its US proceedings with a team that included David Berman and Marjorie Crider.