On December 6, 2017, Novacap acquired a majority stake in Joseph Ribkoff Inc., a Montréal-based designer, manufacturer and distributor of fashionable women’s apparel.
This transaction is one of the first for Novacap in connection with the fashion industry. It was funded by the Novacap Industries IV, L.P. fund and was completed in partnership with the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, the founder, Joseph Ribkoff, and senior management of the company. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Novacap is a leading Canadian private equity firm with about $2.6 billion under management while Fonds de solidarité FTQ is a Québec-based development capital investment fund with over $13 billion in net assets. Joseph Ribkoff Inc. is one of Canada’s leading fashion designers and has presence in more than 64 international markets. The brand was established in 1957.
McMillan LLP acted as counsel to the Sellers with a team led by Max Mendelsohn and comprised of Alexandre Koch (corporate and M&A), Béatrice Méthé (corporate and M&A), Enda Wong (corporate and M&A), Penny Genovezos (corporate), Casey Halladay (competition), Michel Ranger (tax), Pierre-Christian Hoffman (real estate), Shari Munk-Manel (employment) and Max Jarvie (financing).
Novacap was represented by Josiane Turcotte, legal counsel at Novacap, and by a team of lawyers at McCarthy Tétrault LLP led by Patrick Shea and composed of Cristel Chabot-Lapointe, Isabelle Nazon, Bianca Déprés Tremblay and Anna Bronshteyn (corporate and M&A), Mathieu Dubord, Ève Tessier and Étienne Guertin (financing), Angelo Discepola and Andrew Haikal (tax), Madeleine Renaud (competition), Diana Theophilopoulos (employment), Mary Pagonis and Jay Gupta (real estate), Véronique Wattiez Larose (IP and IT) and Dominique Amyot-Bilodeau (environment).
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP acted for one of the principal Sellers with a team led by Justin Vineberg and composed of Marie-Emmanuelle Vaillancourt (tax) and Olivia Khazam (tax and M&A).
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP acted for TD Bank with a team led by David Lemieux and composed of Derek Chiasson (tax), Pierre-Olivier Tremblay (banking), Ricardo Lento (banking) and Pierre-François Tétreault (banking).