On Nov. 19, Nasdaq and Verafin announced they have entered into a definitive agreement through which Nasdaq will acquire Verafin for US$2.75 billion. The acquisition will combine Verafin’s anti-financial crime management products with Nasdaq’s reach and regulatory leadership to create a global SaaS leader in the fight against financial crime. The transaction will strengthen Nasdaq’s existing technology and anti-financial crime solutions and will make Verafin’s solutions available to a global network to detect market manipulation and abuse. Nasdaq’s investment in Verafin will strengthen and expand its position as an economic and technology leader while maintaining its base in St. John’s, NL.
Verafin is one of Canada’s largest technology companies and focuses on enterprise financial crime management solutions. Verafin is focused on providing a cloud based, secure platform for fraud detection and management, BSA/AML compliance and management, high risk customer management and information sharing.
Nasdaq Inc. is a global technology firm focused on serving the capital markets and other industries through a diverse offering of data, analytics, software and services.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP advised Verafin with a team consisting of
Chad Bayne,
David Jamieson,
Justin Dharamdial,
Kosta Starostin,
Emery White,
Alexandra Alacchi (emerging and high growth companies),
Shuli Rodal,
Gajan Sathananthan (competition/antitrust and foreign investment),
and Steven Dickie (employment and labour),
Dov Begun,
Christopher Sheridan,
Jennifer Lee,
Andrew Granek (taxation),
Sam Ip (technology),
and Riyaz Dattu (international trade and investment law).
Alex Kogan, senior vice president and global head of corporate and commercial law, and Mary Dear, assistant vice president – principal associate general counsel, led Nasdaq’s legal team.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz provided lead external assistance to Nasdaq with a team that included
David Lam,
Mark Veblen,
Victor Goldfeld,
Carmen Lu,
Malcolm Evans,
Kelsey Dennison (M&A),
Gregory Pessin,
Benjamin Arfa,
Benjamin Nickerson (banking and finance),
Franco Castelli (antitrust),
David Kahan,
Amanda Cioffi (employment),
Joshua Holmes, Liam Murphy (tax),
Selwyn Goldberg,
and Nicole Sharer (intellectual property).
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Nasdaq with a team that included
Graham Smith,
David Kruse,
Laura Gagnon,
Cameron Love (M&A),
Julie Soloway,
David Dueck,
Fraser Malcolm (competition, foreign investment),
Jeffrey Shafer (tax),
Lindsay McLeod (benefits),
Melanie Baird,
Sean Jackson (intellectual property),
Imran Ahmad (cybersecurity),
Laura Blumenfeld (employment),
Sunny Handa,
and Renee Tousignant (technology).