Transcontinental Acquires Chenelière Éducation

On August 31, 2006 Transcontinental completed its acquisition of Chenelière Éducation from Perseis Partners, Chenelière's founders and a company controlled by Gaëtan Morin. The aggregate purchase price was $120 million.

Transcontinental is the largest printer in Canada and seventh-largest in North America. Transcontinental is also the country's leading consumer magazine publisher and second-largest community newspaper publisher. Transcontinental is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has more than 14,000 employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico, and reported revenues of $2.2 billion (US$1.9 billion) in 2005.

Chenelière Éducation is a French-language publisher of educational resources and has more than 2,000 authors writing for every level of education. Its catalogues list more than 5,500 titles from well-known names such as Beauchemin, Chenelière Éducation, Chenelière/McGraw-Hill, Gaëtan Morin Éditeur and Graficor. Its publications are used in more than 5,000 French educational and immersion institutions in Canada, and are distributed throughout French-speaking Europe and the United States.

Transcontinental was represented by Christine Desaulniers, its vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary, and by in-house attorney Kiriakos Vanikiotis. Perseis Partners and Chenelière's founders were represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team that consisted of John W. Leopold, Michel Gélinas, Franziska Ruf, Robert Carelli, Diane Lemelin and Christine Legé (corporate); Robert Hogan, Christian Meighen and Antoine Stébenne (tax); Bruno Barrette (intellectual property); Hélène Bussières and Michel Legendre (employment and benefits); Richard Rusk (environment) and Valérie Mac-Seing (real estate).

Gaëtan Morin was represented by Marchand Melançon Forget with a team that consisted of Pierre Lessard (tax) and Jean Roch Boivin, Serge Boucher and Mathilde Rompré (corporate).

Lawyer(s)

Michel Gélinas Robert Carelli Bruno Barrette Franziska Ruf John W. Leopold Michel Legendre Antoine Stébenne Hélène Bussières Valérie Mac-Seing Christine Legé Christian Meighen Diane A. Lemelin Richard J. Rusk