On December 21, 2006, AXA Re completed the sale of its worldwide reinsurance business to Paris Re Holdings Limited capitalized at US$1.6 billion. Paris Re Holdings was formed by an investor group led by Trident III, LP (a fund managed by Stone Point Capital LLC, a global private equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut) and other leading private equity firms, including Hellman & Friedman, Vestar Capital Partners, Crestview Capital Partners, Och-Ziff Management and New Mountain Capital. In Canada, this transaction involved the establishment of a new Paris Re branch under the Insurance Companies Act (Canada).
With respect to the Canadian portion of the transaction, Paris Re was represented by Torys LLP with a team led by Blair Keefe and Sunny Sodhi (corporate and insurance regulatory); Carolyn Naiman (competition); Phil Mohtadi (Investment Canada); John Unger (tax); and Christina Medland and Tara Sastri (pension and employment). AXA Re was represented by Lang Michener LLP with a team led by Frank Palmay, Robert Cranston and Nika Robinson (corporate and insurance regulatory); James Musgrove (competition) and Kalle Soomer (tax).
Internationally, Paris Re was represented by Dewey Ballantine LLP with a team led by Jeff Liebmann and Jonathan Freedman. AXA Re was represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP with a team led by William Torchiana, Olivier de Vilmorin, Joram Lietaert Peerbolte, Jonathan Lehmann and Ashkan Karimi.