ING Canada and Zurich North America Canada Establish Strategic Alliance

ING Canada, the leading general insurer in Canada, agreed to acquire, for an undisclosed amount, the Canadian personal property and casualty insurance business and small and mid-market commercial property and casualty insurance business of Zurich North America Canada, the leading corporate insurer in Canada. As part of the transaction, Zurich will acquire segments of ING’s large corporate property and casualty insurance business. The transaction, which combines elements of indemnity reinsurance, transfers and assumptions and policy renewals, closed on December 17, 2001. The transaction involves annual insurance premiums in excess of $600 million. ING and Zurich are also entering into a strategic alliance whereby each will offer its products to each other’s distributors and customers.

In-house counsel, Françoise Guénette, Bernie Stevenson and Gordon Manning, co-ordinated the transaction for ING, and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP’s Robert McDowell, Gary Fogler and Stephen Kerr (corporate), John Beardwood and John Marsalek (IT), Liz Johnson and Mitchell Thaw (tax), David Vincent (pensions), Ralph Nero (employment) and David Allsebrook (intellectual property) provided legal advice. Lang Michener’s Carol Lyons and James Stranges (insurance regulatory) and James Musgrove (competition and Investment Canada) provided regulatory advice to ING, and David Atkins assisted ING in the transaction.

Representing Zurich was in-house counsel Gordon Thompson, together with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Robert Hutchison, Brian Keith and Ross DeBoni (corporate), Jeremy Barry (IT), Andrew Harrison and Mike Fitzgibbon (pensions and employment) and Jason Hannibal (intellectual property).