Apax completes sale of its equity interest in Garda World

On May 26, 2017, Apax Partners (Apax), one of the world’s leading private equity investment groups, completed the sale of its remaining shares of the parent company (HCA Parent Corp.) of Garda World Security Corp. (Garda World) to Stephan Crétier, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Garda World, along with certain members of management and an entity held by investment funds affiliated with Rhône Capital (Rhone).

Garda World is among the world’s largest privately owned security services providers.

Garda World and HCA Parent Corp. were represented in Canada by Séguin Racine, Avocats by a team led by Pierre-Hubert Séguin and that included Éric Archambault, Angela Kosciuk and Lara Malewski (M&A/corporate); Bruno Racine and Anne-Carole Turgeon (tax); and Stéphane Palardy and David Gravel (regulatory).

Garda World was represented in the United States by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. The Skadden team was composed of John Kabealo, Nathaniel Bolin, Steve Albertson and Malcolm Tuesley (regulatory).

Apax was represented in Canada by Stikeman Elliott LLP.

The Stikeman Elliott team was composed of Brian Pukier, Jeff Hershenfield and Brandon Hoffman (M&A/corporate); Jeffrey Brown and Ashley Piotrowski (regulatory); and John Lorito and Lindsay Gwyer (tax).

Apax was represented in the United States by Kirkland & Ellis LLP by a team that was composed of Srinivas Kaushik (M&A/corporate); Joanna Ritcey-Donohue and Joshua Thompson (regulatory) and Kurt Wunderlich (HSR). Apax was also represented by Gil Even-Shoshan (antitrust) of Ashurst LLP.

Rhone was represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP by a team that was composed of Richard Pollack, Lucas Carsley, Christoph Vonlanthen, Moritz Raepple and Blake Schell (M&A/corporate); Neal McKnight and Daniel Loeser (financing); Matthew Friestedt and Jeannette Braun (executive compensation & benefits); Eric Wang, Michael Orchowski and Slki Hong (tax); Eric Kadel Jr. (CIFUS); and Eric Queen and Patrick Gorman (antitrust).

McCarthy Tétrault LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Rhône by a team that was composed of Clemens Mayr and Fraser Bourne (M&A/corporate), Christian Meighen and Marie-Soleil Landry (tax) and Dominic Thérien (regulatory).