City of London Sells Fibre-Optic Business to GT Group Telecom

The Corporation of the City of London completed the sale of its fibre-optic business to GT Group Telecom Inc. on February 21, 2001, through the sale of the shares of LondonConnect Inc. LondonConnect (formerly a division of the London Hydro Commission) was established as a separate company as part of the fall 2000 corporatization of London Hydro as required by Ontario’s Electricity Act, 1998. With this purchase of the shares of LondonConnect, GT Group Telecom extended its London, Ontario fibre-optic network with the purchase of about 100 route kilometres of fibre, or 7,600 fibre kilometres, and 40 buildings throughout the city.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s Steven Smith and Camilla MacKenzie (corporate) worked closely with Robert Blackwell, the Commissioner of Legal Services and City Solicitor, on behalf of the City of London. Also involved on behalf of the city were Robert Beaumont (commercial contracts and regulatory), Dov Begun (tax) and Allan Wells (labour). Francesca Guolo and Shevaun McGrath (corporate/securities), John Brookes (labour), Michael Koch and Peter Ruby (regulatory) of Goodmans LLP worked together with GT in-house counsel, Michael Campbell, on behalf of GT Group Telecom on the transaction.