Evraz Group Acquires IPSCO

On June 12, 2008, Russian steelmaker Evraz Group S.A. completed its acquisition of IPSCO Inc.'s Canadian plate and pipe business for approximately US$2.9 billion from SSAB Svenskt Stål AB. With plants in Regina, Calgary and Red Deer, IPSCO is a leading North American producer of steel plate, as well as pipe for the oil and gas industry. Evraz acquired IPSCO's North American Tubulars business from SSAB for approximately US$4 billion.

Pursuant to a back-to-back transaction with Evraz, Russian steelmaker OAO TMK acquired IPSCO's US Tubulars business from SSAB for approximately US$1.25 billion. The transaction was financed by Evraz in part out of the proceeds of a Eurobond issuance by Evraz and by new senior credit facilities arranged by ABN AMRO Bank and by TMK in part out of a credit facility arranged by ABN AMRO Bank.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as legal counsel to Evraz. The Cleary team included Neil Whoriskey, Matthew Salerno, Aarthi Belani and Benjamin Brust (M&A); Sheldon Alster, Meyer Fedida and Peter Psiachos (tax); Andrew Shutter, David Suh, Gary Segal and Kristina Hokenberg (corporate finance); David Gelfand, Jeremy Calsyn, Adam Miller and Antonio Pozos (antitrust); Leonard Jacoby and Pia Sen (IP); Caroline Hayday and Marin Feldman (labour and employment); Patrick Marette and Danielle Cohen (real estate) and Janet Weller (environmental).

The Blakes team included Michael Gans, Mark Adkins and Michael Fabbri (M&A); Jeff Trossman, Paul Stepak and Jeffrey Shafer (tax); Rob Kwinter, Jason Gudofsky, Micah Wood and Greg Sullivan (competition/Investment Canada); Ian Binnie (financial services); Silvana D'Alimonte and Daniel Kofman (real estate); Connie Reeve (labour and employment); Elizabeth Boyd and Jessica Bullock (pension and benefits); Gary Daniel (IP), and Richard Owens and Rebecca Katzin (IT and privacy).

TMK was represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP with a team including Steven P. Buffone, Benno Schwarz, Olga Sandler, Melissa Torres, Lee A. Jarit and James O'Grady (corporate); Romina Weiss (tax); Alan J. Bannister, Andrew S.V. Thomas, Aaron F. Adams, Robert Moody and Linn N. Mayhew (corporate finance); Raymond B. Ludwiszewski and Karyn B. Marsh (environmental); David Herbert and Stephanie L. Poole (real estate); David Kennedy and Amy Altshul (IP); Peter Sullivan (antitrust) and Michael Collins (labour and employment).

In addition, Lorna Telfer and Clemens Mayr (M&A); Yves Comtois and Madeleine Renaud (competition) and Frédéric Harvey (tax) of McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted for TMK.

White & Case LLP and Bennett Jones LLP acted for SSAB. On the White & Case team were John Reiss, Matthew Kautz, Alison Dreizen, Zohar Liss, Edgardo Cavalie, Adam Zitter, Ezekiel Vermillion and Brendan Carosi (M&A); J. William Dantzler, Jr. and Gregg Benson (tax); Kenneth Raskin, Andrew Oringer, Stacy DeWalt and Colleen Hart (benefits), Jean Shimotake and Adam Turkel (IP); David Bilkis, Sam Hamilton, Jessica Albrecht, David Walter, Terry Chan, Magnus Hakanson, Henrik Aurelius and George Yannopoulos (corporate finance); Tal Marnin and Nadir Joshua (labour and employment); Paul Milmed (environmental); George Paul, Noah Brumfield, Charles Moore and Daniel Kanter (antitrust) and Richard J. Burke (international trade).

The Bennett Jones team included Alan Bell, Jeff Kerbel, Ian Goldberg and Kris Hanc (M&A), Milos Barutciski and Adam Kalbfleisch (competition/Investment Canada); Duncan Card (IT), Thomas Bauer, Bernard Morris and Peter Jovicic (tax); Mary Beth Currie (labour and employment); Sean Maxwell (benefits) and Mark Rasile (financial services).

Shearman & Sterling LLP and Stikeman Elliott LLP acted for the lenders under the new credit facilities. The Shearman & Sterling team included Steven Sherman, David Swarthout and Nathan Wood (corporate/banking).

Stikeman Elliott LLP's team included Marie Garneau, Sterling Dietze and Mairi MacGillivray (corporate/banking); Shawn Neylan (competition/Investment Canada); Jim Harbell and Kirsten Iler (environmental); Michel Legendre (pensions and benefits); Brenda Hebert and Melissa Schyven (real estate); Kevin Kelly (tax); Lelia Costantini (labour and employment) and Justine Whitehead (intellectual property).