Deals roundup also includes Stikeman Elliott advising Altitude Energy's sale to Cathedral Energy
Blake, Cassels & Graydon and K&L Gates acted as legal counsel to CDPQ and Fonds de solidarité FTQ in the companies’ acquisition of 65 percent of Bonduelle’s North American business, while Gowling assisted Bonduelle in the $850-million deal. This week’s deals roundup also includes Stikeman Elliott and Fishman Haygood advising Altitude Energy Partners in the $130-million sale of its directional drilling services business to Alberta’s Cathedral Energy Services.
CDPQ and Fonds de solidarité FTQ entered into an agreement with French vegetable processor Bonduelle to acquire a 65-percent stake in Bonduelle Americas Long Life (BALL), a North American subsidiary of Bonduelle, at $850 million enterprise value.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon and K&L Gates acted as legal counsel to both Fonds de solidarité FTQ and CDPQ.
Gowling and Willkie Farr & Gallagher assisted Bonduelle. Rothschild & Co and BNP acted as financial advisors and PwC Societe d'Avocats served as accountant to Bonduelle.
BALL reported $943 million in revenue last year from processing and marketing canned and frozen vegetables in the United States and Canada that are sold primarily by private labels, third-party brands and own brands such as Arctic Gardens and Del Monte.
As per Bonduelle’s press release, the transaction will enable the company to “continue to deploy its activities, particularly in brands, in line with its strategic priorities and its ambition of sustainable growth with positive impact.”
Cathedral Energy Services, a Calgary-based energy company, agreed to purchase the directional drilling services business of Altitude Energy Partners, a portfolio company of Black Bay Energy Capital, for approximately $130.4 million.
DS Lawyers Canada LLP, Porter Hedges LLP, and Gordon Lusky LLP served as legal counsel to Cathedral while Peters & Co. Limited acted as financial advisor.
Stikeman Elliot and Fishman Haygood assisted Altitude and Black Bay while Parks Paton Hoepfl & Brown, LLC (PPHB) served as financial advisor and investment bank.
"Cathedral has been actively engaged in a North American strategy to build size and scale and Altitude represents a major step forward in that plan," Cathedral President and CEO Tom Connors said. "This transaction with Altitude represents a transformative step forward by Cathedral, with a combined US market share of approximately 7 percent, providing immediate size and scale and placing us firmly on the road to becoming a leading independent directional drilling company in both the US and Canada."
"Altitude and Cathedral are aligned in our core values and we look forward to achieving new heights as a combined organization,” said Altitude Energy Partners President and CEO Lee Harns. “We're proud to have the brand we've built as Altitude continue on under the Cathedral umbrella and are confident the addition of Cathedral's technology, strong complementary market presence, and public market support will only help propel our market share further and help us firmly establish ourselves as one of the pre-eminent independent directional drillers in the US as well as Canada."
Cathedral plans to operate under the Altitude name and brand in the US, with the Altitude management team leading Cathedral's existing US directional drilling business. Lee Harns will remain as president of the business unit.
The transaction is expected to be complete by early July 2022.
Alberta’s public oil company Whitecap Resources entered an agreement with the Canadian affiliates of Texas-based energy company ExxonMobil, Imperial and ExxonMobil Canada, to acquire XTO Energy Canada, the Montney and Duvernay assets jointly owned by the affiliates, for $1.92 billion.
The assets include 567,000 net acres in the Montney shale, 72,000 net acres in the Duvernay shale and additional acreage in other areas of Alberta.
RBC Capital Markets served as the exclusive financial advisor to Exxon Mobil affiliates Imperial and ExxonMobil Canada.
The transaction is expected to close before the end of the third quarter.
