WSP Global Inc. Completes Bought Deal Offering and Concurrent Private Placement

WSP Global Inc., a professional services firms, completed its previously announced bought-deal offering of common shares of approximately $207 million and its private placement of common shares of approximately $86 million with two of its existing shareholders, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec.

The net proceeds of the bought-deal offering and the private placement, together with funds drawn under its existing credit facility, were used by WSP to fund a portion of its acquisition of Focus Group Holding Inc., an engineering and geomatics firm based in Alberta serving the oil and gas industry in Western Canada. The acquisition was completed on Apr. 10, 2014.

The common shares were sold on a bought-deal basis to a syndicate of underwriters coled by CIBC, Raymond James Ltd., BMO Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Inc., with CIBC and Raymond James Ltd. acting as joint book runners, and HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., RBC Capital Markets Inc., TD Securities Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Dundee Securities Corp., Scotiabank, Canaccord Genuity Corp., and Laurentian Bank Securities Inc.

WSP was represented in-house by Valéry Zamuner, Vice President, Legal Affairs and Corporate Secretary, and Marcy Ben-Ami Zimmerman, Corporate Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary; and was assisted by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team including Steeve Robitaille, Maxime Turcotte, Vanessa Coiteux, Marie-Ève Ferland and Amy Chao (Securities); and Luc Bernier and Éric Lévesque (tax).

The underwriters were represented by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP with a team including Jean-Pierre Chamberland, Constantinos Ragas and Talia Markarian (securities and M&A) and Claude Jodoin (tax).

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was represented by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP with a team including Howard Levine, Michael Bantey and Alfred Buggé.

Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec was represented by its in-house counsel Guy Lebeuf, Director, Advisory Services, Legal Affairs; and assisted by Lavery, de Billy L.L.P. with a team including Josianne Beaudry, Jean-Sébastien Desroches and Maxime Bergeron.