On April 10, 2015, Cara Operations Ltd., Canada’s largest full service restaurant company, completed its $200 million initial public offering. Cara sold 8.7 million subordinate voting shares for $23 each and now trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CAO.
Cara Operations has 837 restaurants across Canada and 10 brands including Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Montana’s, Milestones and East Side Mario’s.
Scotia Capital, BMO Nesbitt Burns and RBC Dominion Securities led the underwriting syndicate on the offering.
McCarthy Tétrault LLP represented the Phelan Family through Cara Holdings with a team consisting of David Woollcombe, Gabrielle Richards and David Badour.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP represented the syndicate of underwriters with a team led by Desmond Lee and which included John Valley and Simon Leith (Canadian securities), Jason Comerford (US securities) and Timothy Hughes (tax). The underwriting syndicate on the offering was led by Scotia Capital, BMO Nesbitt Burns and RBC Dominion Securities.
Cara Operations was led by Dave Lantz, Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary and David Blumberger. Torys LLP provided external support with a team that included David Chaikof, Glen Johnson, Alison Harnick, Laura Sigurdson and Stephen Abrahamson (Canadian securities), Andy Beck (US securities), John Tobin and Grace Pereira (tax) and Lynne Lacoursière (employment).
Stikeman Elliott LLP acted for Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited with a team that included Edward Waitzer and Amanda Linett.