De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (“DHC”) completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of the Dash 8 aircraft program from Bombardier Inc. (“Bombardier”) for gross proceeds of approximately US$300 million. The acquisition included the 100, 200 and 300 series and the in-production Q400 program. DHC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Longview Aviation Capital Corporation (“LACC”). The Dash 8 joins LACC’s comprehensive portfolio of aircraft programs, including the Twin Otter program and the DHC-1 through DHC-7 series, as well as the former Canadair CL-215, CL-215T and the CL-415 waterbomber aircraft.
DHC will carry on the production of Q400 aircraft at the Downsview Facility in Toronto and will continue performing after-market services for Q-Series aircraft. 1,200 professionals joined DHC from Bombardier. The transaction marks the return of the de Havilland brand to the global aerospace industry. The iconic de Havilland name dates back almost 100 years and is responsible for some of the most renowned aircraft in aviation history. Following the transaction, LACC is now North America’s largest commercial turbo- prop aircraft manufacturer.
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DHC and LACC were represented by Bennett Jones LLP with a team led by Bryan Haynes and John Lawless and which included Byron Tse, Joel Wiens, Luke Johnson and Blair Hobkirk (M&A), Sebastien Gittens and Stephen Burns (IP), Jane Helmstadter, Leonard Griffiths and Christopher Ferencz (Real Estate and Environmental), Carl Cunningham, John Batzel and Talia Bregman (Employment), Adam Kalbfleisch, Kyle Donnelly and Alysha Pannu (Competition/Antitrust), Susan Seller (Pension and Benefits) and Patrick Brennan and Nicholas Emter (Banking). Hogan Lovells International LLP acted as international competition counsel to DHC and LACC, with a team led by Edith Ramirez and which included Dr. Salome Cisnal de Ugarte, Robert Baldwin, Ivan Pico and Alexandra Bray.
The parent of DHC and LACC was represented by Goodmans LLP with a team comprising Celia Rhea, David Rosner, Justine Johnston and Brendan Dean.
Bombardier was represented internally by Alain Doré (Associate General Counsel and Head of Legal Services, Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Services), Geneviève Lefort (Senior Legal Counsel), Nicholas Cerminaro (Associate General Counsel), Christian Poupart (Vice President, Legal and Contracts) and Allon Pollack (Senior Legal Counsel, Aerostructures & Engineering Services).
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP acted as corporate counsel to Bombardier with a team led by Faran Umar-Khitab and Stephen McKersie that included Parna Sabet- Stephenson, Cara Stoller, Susana Fonseca, Jessica George and Josiah Davis (M&A), Susan Rosen (Real Estate), Daniel Hayhurst (Pensions and Benefits), Ian Macdonald and Joseph McDonald (Competition), Kevin Sartorio, Shelagh Carnegie, Selena Kim and Kristen Kilroy (Intellectual Property), Cynthia Elderkin and Garrett Hamel (Regulatory). Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP acted as labour counsel to Bombardier with a team led by Simon Mortimer and including Stephanie Kalinowski and Gregory Power.