Golden Gate Acquires Geac

On March 14, 2006, Golden Gate Capital completed its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding common shares in the capital of Geac Computer Corporation Limited for a total purchase price of approximately US$1 billion or US$11.10 per common share. The transaction was completed by means of a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act, after Geac shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of the plan.
Golden Gate is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over US$2.5 billion of capital under management dedicated to investing in high-growth businesses in change-intensive industries. Geac is a global enterprise software company that addresses the needs of chief financial officers.
Golden Gate was represented by Kirkland & Ellis LLP with a team that included Jeffrey Hammes, Gary Holihan, Jeffrey Golden, Eric McCrath and Jordan Zamir (corporate/securities), and John Friedrichs, Bruce Steinert, Laura Rupenian and Anh Ly (banking). Golden Gate was also advised by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP with a team led by Paul Mingay that included Frank Allen and Dyana McLellan (corporate/securities), Larissa Tkachenko (tax), Adam Fanaki (Investment Canada), Howard Silverman and Will Wallace (banking), and Colleen Spring Zimmerman (intellectual property). Lawrence Freeman, Q.C., Mike Simms, Laurie Jones and David Hicks of McInnes Cooper acted for Golden Gate in Nova Scotia.
The senior lenders were represented by Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP with a team that included Allen Parker, Michael Gordon and Christopher Kelly. The subordinate lenders were represented by Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP with a team that included Frederic Ragucci, David Bernsohn and Helen Lloyd-Davies. Bill Woloshyn and Manju Jessa of McMillan Binch Mendelsohn LLP acted for the lenders in Canada.
Geac was represented by in-house counsel Jeffrey Snider, Jonathan Salon, Brad Steiner and Doug Wolfson, and a team from Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP led by Craig Thorburn that included Frank Arnone, Jennifer Woo, David Shaw and Ronan Levy (corporate/securities), Jeff Galway and Bradley Berg (litigation), John Tuzyk (equity compensation plans), Elizabeth Boyd (pensions and benefits), Jeffrey Trossman and Paul Stepak (tax), Jason Gudofsky (Investment Canada/competition) and Simon Finch (debt financing). Geac was also advised by Richard Grossman and Daniel Ganitsky of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.