Great-West Lifeco Inc. (“Great-West”), a subsidiary of Power Financial Corporation (“Power Financial”), itself a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada (“Power Corporation”), successfully closed a substantial issuer bid (the “Great-West Offer”) to purchase $2 billion of its common shares (“Great-West Shares”) at a price of $33.50 per Great-West Share. The Great-West Offer proceeded by way of a modified Dutch auction. RBC Dominion Securities Inc. acted as dealer manager in connection with the Great-West Offer and as financial advisors to Great-West.
Power Financial participated in the Great-West Offer by tendering a significant portion of its Great-West Shares on a proportionate basis and all remaining tendered Great-West Shares on a non-proportionate basis.
IGM Financial Inc. (“IGM”), a subsidiary of Power Financial, also participated in the Great-West Offer by tendering the Great-West Shares it indirectly owned on a proportionate basis.
Concurrently with the closing of the Great-West Offer, Power Financial successfully closed a substantial issuer bid (the “PFC Offer”) to purchase $1.65 billion of its common shares (“PFC Shares”) at a price of $33.00 per PFC Share. The PFC Offer proceeded by way of a modified Dutch auction. BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. acted as dealer manager in connection with the PFC Offer and as financial advisors to Power Financial.
Power Corporation participated in the PFC Offer by tendering a significant portion of its PFC Shares on a proportionate basis and all remaining tendered PFC Shares on a non-proportionate basis.
Concurrently with the closing of the Great-West Offer and the PFC Offer, Power Corporation successfully closed a substantial issuer bid (the “PCC Offer”) to purchase $1.35 billion of its subordinate voting shares (“PCC Shares”) at a price of $33.00 per PCC Share. The PCC Offer proceeded by way of a modified Dutch auction. BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. acted as dealer manager in connection with the PCC Offer and as financial advisors to Power Corporation.
Great-West’s internal team included Sharon Geraghty, Melissa Catalano and Jamie Au (Securities) and Fred Borgmann, James Wilson and Kyla Zhao (Tax). Torys LLP acted as counsel to Great-West, with a team including Karrin Powys-Lybbe, Leah Frank, Stephen Neil, Crystal Chung, Hongyi Geng and Sarah Strong (Securities), Allison Segal and Parker Baglole (Corporate), Blair Keefe (Regulatory), Corrado Cardarelli and Gwen Watson (Canadian Tax), David Mattingly (U.S. Tax) and Mile Kurta (U.S. Securities).
The Power Corporation and Power Financial internal legal team included Stéphane Lemay, Delia Cristea and Marilyne Rougeau. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Power Corporation and Power Financial, with a team including John Tuzyk, Matthew Merkley, Tim Phillips, David Bristow and Jonny York (Securities), Jeffrey Trossman, Josh Jones and Annika Wang (Tax), Rory ffrench, Michael Elder, Austin White, Zach Mammon, Nora Bercovici and Cameron Love (Corporate), Paul Belanger (Regulatory) and Aude Godfroy (Financial Services). The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP team, acting as US counsel to Power Corporation and Power Financial, included Ryan Dzierniejko and Justin Flavelle (Securities) and Eric Sensenbrenner and Robert Stevenson (Tax).
The IGM internal legal team included Rhonda Goldberg and Nick Westlind. The Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP team, acting as counsel to IGM, included John Tuzyk, Eric Moncik and David Bristow (Securities), Josh Jones (Tax), and Rory ffrench, Michael Elder and Austin White (Corporate).