Wolf Theiss and Norton Rose Fulbright have advised Canadian Tire Corporation Limited on its CAD 985 million acquisition of a majority stake in Norwegian sportswear and workwear brand Helly Hansen from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Kirkland & Ellis advised the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on the sale.
Closing of the transaction is expected in the third quarter of 2018.
According to Norton Rose Fulbright, “the acquisition of Helly Hansen is expected to strengthen Canadian Tire’s core retail banners, such as Sportchek, Atmosphere, Sports Experts, National Sports, and Mark’s, which have a long-standing history with the Norwegian brand as some of its leading clients.”
Canadian Tire Corporation is a family of businesses founded in 1922. The company sells a wide range of automotive, hardware, sports and leisure, and home products.
According to Kirkland & Ellis, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan acquired Helly Hansen in 2012 and helped the company expand into 40 countries and provide apparel to over 50,000 ski professionals.
The Wolf Theiss team was led by Vienna-based Partner Horst Ebhardt and Senior Associate Jiayan Zhu and included Partner Christian Mikosch and Associates David Gschaider and Lukas Slameczka. The Prague team consisted of Counsel Jan Kotous and Associates David Simek and Tomas Sletcha. The Budapest team involved Partner Janos Toth and Associates Zoltan Bodog and Peter Ihasz.
The Norton Rose Fulbright cross-border team was led by Toronto-based Managing Partner Terence Dobbin and Partners Walied Soliman and Troy Ungerman and included Partners Pierre Dagenais, Adrienne Oliver, Bruce Sheiner, Christopher Hunter, Lisa Cabel, Robert Percival, Kevin Ackhurst, and Michael Lieberman, Senior Associates Seemal Patel and Sara Josselyn, and Associates Trevor Zeyl and Noah Schein. The London team consisted of Partners Chris Pearson, Jon Perry, Mike Knapper, Dominic Stuttaford, and Matthew Findley. The Amsterdam office was represented by Partner Remco Smorenburg.
The Kirkland team in London was led by corporate Partner Roger Johnson and Associates Tom Bartram, Niklas Ahlklo, and Irfan Ahmed. The team also included Partners Dulcie Daly, Mark Ingram, and Paula Riedel, as well as Of Counsel Mike Robert-Smith.
