RONA Acquires Réno-Dépot Shares

RONA Inc. completed its acquisition from London, England-based Kingfisher plc of all the issued and outstanding shares of Réno-Dépôt Inc., for a purchase price of approximately $360 million. The deal closed on September, 10, 2003.

To finance the acquisition, RONA completed in May, a new issue and secondary offering of 11,183,572 common shares for total gross proceeds of approximately $190 million.

Also in order to finance the acquisition, to refinance its existing debt and for general corporate purposes, RONA entered into a credit agreement bearing the formal date of May 31, for an aggregate maximum amount of $577 million with a syndicate of lenders led by National Bank of Canada as administrative agent, Bank of Montreal and La Caisse centrale Desjardins du Québec as co-syndication agents, and Royal Bank of Canada and The Bank of Nova Scotia as co-documentation agents.

RONA was represented in-house by France Charlebois, corporate secretary and general counsel; by Ogilvy Renault with a team that included Jean-Pierre Colpron, Frank Picciola, Sandro Cellucci, Éric Stevens and Nicolas Labrecque (acquisition), Mario Caron, Norman Lieff and Danièle Leroux (real estate), Jean Piette (environment), Martin Rochette (pension), Christian Sioufi, Catherine Mateu and Serge Levy (banking), Renaud Coulombe and Natalie Brown (equity financing), Denis Gascon, Dany Assaf and Michaël Hassan (competition), Leanne Souquet (intellectual property) and Jules Charette and John Leopardi (tax); and by Robert Bonhomme, Richard Gaudreault, Chantal Lamarche and Francine Legault (employment) of Heenan Blaikie LLP.

Kingfisher was represented in-house by Martin Chambers, director, legal; and by Stikeman Elliott LLP, with a team that included Pierre Raymond, Peter Castiel, Kevin Kyte and Sophie Lamonde (mergers and acquisitions), Bertrand Ménard, Mario Paura and Marise Chabot (real estate), Jean Carrier (environment), Michel Legendre (pension), Jean Lamothe and Natalie Gosselin (banking), Paul Collins, Jeffrey Brown and Vicky Eatrides (competition), Patrick Essiminy and Mireille Bergeron (employment), Hélène Deschamps-Marquis (intellectual property), Michel Décary and Marc-André Coulombe (litigation) and Robert Hogan and Derek Chiasson (tax).

The syndicate of lenders was represented by François Renaud, Catherine Papineau and Virginie Arbour Maynard of Desjardins Ducharme Stein Monast. The underwriters of the equity financing were represented by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, with a team that included Robert Paré, Gilles Leclerc, Jean-Pierre Chamberland and François-Bernard Poulin. The selling shareholder, ITM Enterprises S.A., was represented by Sylvain Cossette and Alain Roberge of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.

Lawyer(s)

Denis Gascon François-Bernard Poulin Serge Levy Chantal Lamarche Eric Stevens Kevin Kyte François Renaud Hélène Deschamps Marquis Jeffrey Brown Francine Legault Patrick Essiminy Sylvain Cossette Bertrand P. Ménard Alain Roberge Natalie Gosselin Mario M. Caron Sophie Lamonde Sandro Cellucci Catherine Papineau Martin Rochette Jean-Pierre Chamberland Jules Charette Jean-Pierre Colpron Richard Gaudreault Robert Bonhomme Peter Castiel Marc-André Coulombe Paul Collins Virginie Arbour-Maynard Jean Piette Michel Legendre Vicky Eatrides Gilles Leclerc Mireille Bergeron Nicolas Labrecque Jean G. Lamothe Renaud Coulombe John Leopardi Jean Carrier Catherine Mateu C. Mario Paura Michel Décary Frank L. Picciola Pierre A. Raymond Dany H. Assaf Michaël Hassan Derek Chiasson Marise Chabot