Kirkland Lake Gold completes $4.9-billion acquisition of Detour Gold

On Jan. 31, 2020, Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. completed its acquisition of Detour Gold Corporation. Pursuant to the arrangement, Kirkland acquired 100 per cent of the issued and outstanding Detour shares, and Detour shareholders received 0.4343 of a common share of Kirkland in exchange for each Detour share held immediately prior to closing. Upon closing of the arrangement, existing Kirkland and former Detour shareholders own approximately 73 per cent and 27 per cent of the issued and outstanding Kirkland shares, respectively.

Kirkland Lake Gold was represented internally by Jennifer Wagner, vice-president, legal and corporate secretary.

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP acted as external counsel to Kirkland with a team that included Jamie Litchen, Jay Goldman, Paul Stein, Jeffrey Roy, Jonathan Chandler, Aimee O’Donnell and Kelly Lee (mining, securities and M&A), Chris Hersh (competition and foreign investment), Chris Norton (tax), Caitlin Russell and Maria Constantine (employment and labour), Jennifer Wasylyk, Jenna Clark and Winda Fung (banking and specialty finance), and John Picone and Stephanie Voudouris (litigation).

Dorsey & Whitney LLP acted as U.S. counsel to Kirkland with a team composed of James Guttman and Deborah Lobo (capital markets), and John Hollinrake (tax).

Detour was represented internally by Carl DeLuca, general counsel and corporate secretary.

Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as external counsel to Detour with a team that included Jay Kellerman, John Ciardullo, J.R. Laffin, John Lee, Meghan Jones and Debbie Wang (M&A), Lindsay Gwyer and Eryn Fanjoy (tax), Larry Cobb (environmental), Andrea Bocter (pension and benefits), Nancy Ramalho and Lucy Carruthers (employment and labour), Patrick Duffy (aboriginal affairs), Michael Kilby (regulatory), and Alex Rose and Zev Smith (litigation).

Jones Day acted as U.S. counsel for Detour with a team that included Robert Profusek and Demetra Karamanos (M&A), and Edward Kennedy (tax).

Squire Patton Boggs acted as Australian counsel for Detour with a team that included Neil Fearis and Michael Van Der Ende (M&A).