Hf. Eimskipfélag Íslands Acquires Versacold Income Fund for $1.2B

On August 1, 2007, Eimskip Holdings Inc., an indirect whollyowned subsidiary of Hf. Eimskipafélag Íslands (Eimskip), an Iceland-based investment company specializing in air, land and sea transportation solutions worldwide, completed the acquisition of Versacold Income Fund for $1.2 billion. The offer by Eimskip and its indirect whollyowned subsidiary, Eimskip Holdings Inc., received the unanimous support of the Versacold board of trustees and its principal unit holders. The acquisition was financed by a syndicate of senior lenders led by the Royal Bank of Canada and by subordinated debt provided by KingSett, Real Estate Growth LP No. 3, SITQ, an indirect subsidiary of Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, and Eimskip.

The transaction was led by Magnus G. Thorstenn, general counsel and corporate secretary of Eimskip. In addition, Eimskip Holdings Inc. was represented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP with a team comprising Chris Portner, Doug Marshall, Emmanuel Pressman, David Vernon and Kashif Zaman (M&A), Peter Franklyn, Janet Bolton and Nicole Brown (competition and Investment Canada), Jack Silverson, Greg Wylie and Bill Corcoran (tax) and Laurie Barrett (subordinated debt) and in connection with the financing transactions by Bennett Jones LLP with a team including Paul Mantini, Simon Crawford, Peter Birkness, Helgi Maki and Sarat Maharaj (commercial) and Jane Helmstadter and Aleksandra Finelli (real estate). Anthony Swisher of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP acted on US regulatory/antitrust matters.

Versacold was represented by Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP with a team including Bruce McKay, Alan Hutchison, Michael Larocque, Mike Axford and Sarah Sidhu (M&A/commercial). Versacold's special committee of the board of trustees was represented by William S. Maslechko of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP.

The senior lenders were represented in Canada by Ogilvy Renault LLP with a team including Andrew Welsh, Norman Lieff, James Padwick, Barry Segal and Michele Friel and in the US by Shearman & Sterling LLP with a team including Michael Baker, Randal Palach and Christian Rudloff. SITQ was represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a Montreal-based team that included Sylvain Cossette, Alain Roberge and Neil Kravitz.