2008 winners

2008 Industrials Award Canadian National Railway Company Recipient advisors: Freeborn & Peters LLP • Harkins Cunningham LLP • Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC

CN’s acquisition of the major portion of the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway Company will significantly improve the fluidity of CN's rail operations in the Chicago region, rewarding customers with faster transit times and more reliable service. In addition to helping to relieve the rail congestion that has plagued the Chicago region for decades, the transaction brings economic and environmental benefits to the area and goes a long way toward ensuring Chicago's continued role as the “rail hub” of North America.  This last, vital link in CN’s transportation chain provides more efficient and consistent connections between the Eastern, Western, and Southern regions of our network.

2008 Mid-Market Award Colabor Income Fund Recipient advisors: McCarthy Tétrault LLP •  Bélanger Sauvé LLP • National Bank Financial Inc. • Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton LLP Target advisor: BCF LLP

As a leading player in the Quebec food distribution industry, the acquisition of Bertrand & Frères Inc. was highly strategic for Colabor and consistent with the Fund’s primary objective of generating distributable cash. This acquisition with its strong and increasing free cash flow generation allows Colabor to position itself in Quebec as it has in Ontario with the Summit division to further consolidate the market.

2008 Consumer Business Award Dorel Industries Inc. Recipient advisors: Schiff Hardin LLP • Heenan Blaikie LLP • Richards, Layton & Finger LLP • Holland Van Gijzen Advocaten en Notarissen LLP • Lenz & Staehelin • Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated • Royal Bank • Ernst & Young LLP Target advisors: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP • Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP • Morrison Cohen LLP • Deutsche Bank AG (USA)

The Cannondale transaction is an important accomplishment in Dorel’s plan to further unlock shareholder value by concentrating on the Company’s core Recreational/Leisure and Juvenile segments.  Cannondale is one of the world’s top brands and has already increased Dorel’s visibility. With a strong heritage in competitive cycling, they sponsor several teams including Liquigas, winners of several stages of the Tour de France. Dorel’s vast resources and experience provide the ability and resources to continue to build the Cannondale brand.  The Cannondale purchase is the first step in becoming the world’s number one bicycle company.

2008 Energy Award Enerplus Resources Fund Recipient advisors: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP • RBC Capital Markets • BMO Capital Markets Target advisors: Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP • Scotia Waterous Inc. • CIBC World Markets Inc.
Focus Energy Trust met our strategic objective of adding concentrated assets with significant upside potential that fit into our portfolio of resource plays.  By successfully executing the transaction and integrating the people and assets, we created significant value for our shareholders.

2008 Mining Award Goldcorp Inc. Recipient advisors: Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP • Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. • J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. Target advisors: Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP • BMO Nesbitt Burns, Inc.

The Gold Eagle transaction is consistent with our strategy of growth through a combination of exploration and accretive acquisitions, with a focus on safe jurisdictions and Canada in particular. Our focus at Red Lake now turns to optimizing our district-wide opportunities including development of the Cochenour-Bruce Channel Resource, review of open pit potential and enhanced milling alternatives and further exploration success achieved at this world-class mine.

2008 Foreign Outbound Award Kinross Gold Corporation Recipient advisors: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP • Perez Bustamante & Ponce • Scotia Capital Inc. • Rothschild Inc. • CIBC World Markets Inc. Target advisors: Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP • Stikeman Elliott LLP • BMO Nesbitt Burns, Inc. • Dundee Securities Corporation
Kinross is committed to long-term, disciplined growth through maintaining a pipeline of high-quality development projects.  The acquisition of Fruta del Norte – one of the world’s great gold deposits – plays to our proven strengths of working cooperatively with government and local communities to bring new development projects into production responsibly.

2008 Value Creation Award Open Text Corporation Recipient advisors: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP • Gardiner Roberts LLP • Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw LLP • Deloitte & Touche LLP • RBC Capital Markets Corporation Target advisors: Goodmans LLP • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP • Banc of America Securities LLC • Lehman Brothers Inc.

Open Text is Canada’s largest software company and the world’s largest independent provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software. We have a ten year cumulative aggregate revenue growth rate of 32%. Fiscal 2008 has been our most successful year to date with strong license growth, record profitability and strong cash flow. Since announcing the Hummingbird acquisition in July 2006, Open Text stock has risen from $16 to well over $44 today (TSX).

2008 Deal Team of the Year Award TMX Group Inc. Recipient advisors: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP • BMO Capital Markets Corporation • Desjardins Securities Inc. • UBS Securities Canada Inc. • CIBC Mellon Trust Company Target advisors: Ogilvy Renault LLP • National Bank Financial Inc. • Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
The combination of TSX Group and Montreal Exchange grew out of a common vision for the future of the Canadian capital markets.  Together they created TMX Group – a new integrated exchange group that can offer innovative cash and derivative products across multiple asset classes.

2008 Foreign Inbound Award Yara International ASA Recipient advisors: Stikeman Elliott LLP Target advisors: MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP • CIBC World Markets • RBC Capital Markets Corporation
Saskferco further strengthens Yara's scale and position in North America and is a perfect complement, bringing efficient production capacity from a world-class nitrogen fertilizer facility that is in close proximity to one of the key global fertilizer markets. Yara is fully committed to the growth and expansion of Saskferco which is a win-win situation for all Saskferco stakeholders.

2007 winners

The 2007 awards, which were attended by over 400 corporate executives, legal professionals and investment bankers, targeted Canadian-headquartered companies or funds that completed transactions in 2007 or were likely to complete them in 2008.

The Deal Team of the Year award was awarded to Fortis Inc. and its financial and legal advisors - CIBC World Markets Inc., Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP - for the Terasen Inc. acquisition. Fortis Inc. also received the industry award for the Energy, Power & Utilities sector.

The Canadian Dealmakers of 2007 award winners were:

Materials Industry Award

Agrium Inc. (Calgary)
Aquisition: UAP Holding Corp.
Value ($millions): $2,699
Advisors: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; RBC Capital Markets Corporation

Winner in the Materials category was Agrium Inc. for its acquisition of UAP Holding Corp. This transaction demonstrated classic deal-making excellence across the full M&A spectrum, from the initial targeting through pursuit, structuring and financing.  The result was a transaction that greatly enhanced diversification and generated significant synergies. 

Consumer Products and Services Industry Award

Astral Media Inc. (Montreal)
Aquisition: Standard Broadcasting Corporation
Value ($millions): $935
Advisors: National Bank Financial Inc.; National Bank of Canada; Stikeman Elliott LLP; Watson Wyatt Canada; Ernst & Young LLP

Winner in the Consumer Products and Services Category was Astral Media Inc. for its acquisition of Standard Broadcasting.  As a result of this very large but private transaction, it transformed itself from a dominant regional player into the largest radio broadcaster in Canada with resulting increased scale and geographic diversification.

Industrials Industry Award

Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (Calgary)
Aquisition: Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation
Value ($millions): $2,537
Advisors: Morgan Stanley Canada Limited; RBC Capital Markets Corporation; Sidley Austin LLP

Winner in the Industrials category was Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, one of Canada’s oldest companies. They structured the largest and most important transaction in their history with the acquisition of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad. The transaction significantly expanded its current geographic footprint with an option for even further expansion into a key resource play, with an innovative earn-out approach developed to seal the deal.   All stakeholders benefited from the planned increased investment in infrastructure and improved operations and safety conditions.

Deal Team of the Year Award
Energy, Power & Utilities Award

Fortis Inc. (St. John's)
Aquisition: Terasen Inc.
Value ($millions): $3,807
Advisors: CIBC World Markets Inc.; Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, and Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP.