Mega Bloks Closes IPO

Montreal-based Mega Bloks Inc., Canada’s largest toy company, closed an initial public offering of its common shares on May 9, 2002. The shares are listed on the TSE. The closing resulted in gross proceeds of $105.125 million. Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. acted as lead underwriter and the syndicate included CIBC World Markets Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. The underwriters also exercised an over-allotment option to purchase additional common shares from J.P. Morgan Partners (BHCA) LP.
Representing Mega Bloks in-house were Alain Tanguay, CFO, and Brahm Segal, general counsel, advised by a McCarthy Tétrault LLP securities team comprising Lorna Telfer, Mireille Tremblay, Alison Breen and George Maziotis (corporate), with assistance from Claude Desaulniers, Elaine Marchand and Luc Grenon (tax) and Lonnie Brodkin-Schneider (intellectual property).
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Montreal represented the underwriters with a securities team that included Ward Sellers, François Janson and François Leblanc, with assistance from Norman Loveland and François Auger (tax), and in Ottawa Glen Bloom and Diane Cornish (intellectual property).
In connection with the offering, a new US$75 million credit facility was entered into by Mega Bloks with CIBC as administrative agent, National Bank of Canada as documentation agent, and a syndicate of lenders.
Robert Metcalfe, Martin Sills and Élisabeth Patterson of McCarthy Tétrault represented Mega Bloks in the negotiation of the credit facility. Jean Lamothe and Donna Benedek of Stikeman Elliott represented CIBC and the lenders.