Intact Financial Acquires JEVCO Insurance Company

Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC), through a wholly owned subsidiary, completed its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Jevco Insurance Company from The Westaim Corporation (TSX: WED) for a purchase price of $530 million. The acquisition and transaction-related expenses were financed with the proceeds from a $237 million subscription receipt issuance, a medium term note offering and a portion of the excess capital of IFC.

The acquisition enhances IFC's position in Canada by increasing its direct premiums written by approximately $350 million on a pro forma basis and bringing its market share to 17 per cent. The acquisition will enhance IFC's product offering to include insurance for recreational vehicles, such as motorcycles, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, as well as commercial, surety and non-standard auto insurance.

IFC's team was led by Françoise Guénette, Senior Vice-President, Corporate and Legal Services, and included Chantal Denommée, Vice-President, Legal Services and Compliance; Maryann Besharat, Senior Counsel; Danistan Saverimuthu, Senior Counsel; Richard Ungar, Senior Counsel; Guylaine Boudreau, Legal Counsel; Mathieu Grenier, Legal Counsel; Carinne Hébert-Sabourin, Legal Counsel and Simon Picard, Legal Counsel.

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP assisted IFC on the transaction, with a team that included Robert McDowell, Koker Christensen, Marvin Mikhail and Caitlin Fell (M&A and regulatory); Rosalind Cooper (environmental); Peggy McCallum (pensions); Armand Benitah (intellectual property); Andrew Alleyne and Gabriel Stern (information technology); Dugan Edmison (real estate) as well as Arun Krishnamurti, Jessica Schnurr and Juho Song (corporate).

McMillan LLP assisted IFC in securities law-related aspects of the acquisition as well as the financing with a team that included Sean Farrell, Stewart Ash, Eric Friedman, Mary-Ann Haney, Kim Poster, Ryan Morris, Wendy Chun and Stephen Genttner.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP assisted IFC with competition law advice. The Blakes team was led by Julie Soloway and assisted by Brian Facey and Kevin MacDonald.

Heenan Blaikie LLP assisted WED on the transaction, with a team that included Kevin Rooney, Corey MacKinnon and Ora Wexler (securities) and Mark Jadd and Lesley Kim (tax).

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP assisted WED with insurance regulatory and competition law advice with a team that included Gordon Goodman, Brian Reeve, Miho Felicio (financial services) and Chris Hersh and Imran Ahmad (competition).

Stikeman Elliott LLP assisted the underwriters with a team that included Jeffrey Singer, Stuart Carruthers, Jeff Hershenfield, Ryan Kirvan and Anas Youssef.