Scotiabank / BBVA Chile

Scotiabank is on a Chilean spending spree. The bank, which already has a presence in the “country of poets,” offered Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. $2.2 billion to acquire 68.19 percent of its ownership in BBVA Chile on Nov. 28. The deal was formally accepted by BBVA on Dec. 5 and required the Said family, which owns 31.62 percent of BBVA Chile, to waive its rights of first refusal to acquire the shares.

“I think it's a great deal for Scotia,” says Ricco Bhasin of Torys. He leads the deal team acting for the Canadian bank. “It's right on their strategy in terms of the Pacific Alliance countries and Chile is right on target.”

The acquisition would double Scotia's market share in Chile to 14 percent, according to the bank, and makes it the third largest private bank in the country. The last two years have seen Scotia increase its presence in the Latin America trading bloc, including Colombia and Peru, says Bhasin. Scotiabank is Canada's third-largest bank, but it has the biggest foreign presence, according to Reuters. BBVA Chile has $29 billion in assets, with 4,000 employees at 127 branches.

Bhasin's team at Torys includes senior associate Konata Lake and associates Kevin Armitage, Jessica He and Selam Ibrahim. 

Scotiabank's in-house counsel on the deal are executive vice president and general counsel Ian Arellano, senior vice president and associate general counsel Anita Mackey, senior counsel, strategic transactions Alex MacMillan and international legal counsel Marita Bellido Arregui.

BBVA Chile tapped Uría Menéndez for its legal work.

The deal is expected to close this year.

Platinum Equity / Husky IMS

It's a big price for plastics. On Dec. 18, global investment firm Platinum Equity announced that it is offering $3.85 billion for a Bolton, Ontario-based plastic molding specialist, Husky Injection Molding Systems International Ltd.

The plastic molding equipment supplier, whose equipment is used to manufacture bottles and caps for beverages, containers for food, medical components and consumer electronic parts, is currently owned by Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners LLC and OMERS Private Equity Inc., an arm of the Ontario municipal employees' defined benefit pension plan. Previously, it had been acquired by Canadian buyout specialist Onex Corp. in 2007.

“John Galt and his team have built one of Canada's most successful enterprises and a truly world-class industrial company,” said Platinum Equity partner Louis Samson, in a statement. According to the press release, Galt will remain as chief executive officer of Husky, a position he's held since 2005.

Husky, Berkshire Partners and OMERS Private Equity tapped Torys for their Canadian private equity work, with a team led by John Emanoilidis and including senior associates Matthew Atkey and Stephen Abrahamson on corporate and mergers and acquisitions matters, Jerald Wortsman and Craig Maurice on tax, Susan Nickerson, senior associate Jennifer Lennon and associate Caitlin Morin on employment, Omar Wakil on regulation, Michael Fortier on environmental matters, Edward Fan on intellectual property and Graham Rawlinson on real estate.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is also representing the plastics company, with a team co-led by Peter Feist and Shayla Harlev, with partners Annemargaret Connolly, Heather Emmel, Michael Nissan, Jeffrey Osterman, Ted Posner, Mark Schwed, Andrew Yoo, counsels Vadim Brusser, Brian Drozda, Elliot Ganchrow, Thomas Goslin, Steven Margolis and John O'Loughlin and associates Adam Borenstein, Jonathan Cheng, Emily Cummins, Arnie Fridhandler, John Kleinjan, Mary Lentowski, James McDonough, Alexander Miachika, Amanda Rosenblum, Aman Singh, Jakub Wronski and Jennifer Yoon.

Platinum Equity is advised by Latham & Watkins. David Brown and Jonathan Soloman are heading the transaction. Its team includes partners James Barrett and Paul Davieson on environmental matters, Les Carnegie, Eric Volkman and Sarah Nappi on customs, export controls and anti-corruption, Scott Forchheimer on finance, Leakhena Momon and Patrick Shannon on capital markets, Peter Rosen on insurance, Lisa Watts on tax, counsels Jeffrey Anderson on real estate, Kenneth Chan on Asian law, Kieran Dickinson on intellectual property and Annie Froehlich on customs and associates Matthew Conway, Monica Hernandez, Drew Levin and Victoria VanStekelenburg.

Stikeman Elliott is acting as Canadian counsel for the plastics company. Lawyers on the deal include managing principal Kenneth Ottenbreit, principal Gordon Cameron, associates Elyse Velagic, Anas Youssef and Victoria Zaric on mergers and acquisitions, John Lorito and associate Lindsay Gwyer on tax, Michael Kilby on competition, Craig Mitchell on banking, Lorna Cuthbert and associate Khalfan Khalfan on employment, Dana Porter and associate Julie Harmgardt on real estate, Patrick Duffy on environmental matters, Andrea Boctor on benefits and Justine Whitehead and associate Komil Joshi on intellectual property.

Baker McKenzie has also been tapped by Platinum Equity. Keith Jones of London is leading the international team, which includes associate Eva Crook Santer, also in London, partners Stephen Crosswell in Hong Kong, Arlan Gates in Toronto, Nicolas Kredel in Dusseldorf, Andreas Traugott in Vienna, counsel Mikolaj Piaskowski in Warsaw, senior associate Leana Engelbrecht in Johannesburg and associates Sinan Diniz in Istanbul, Laura Liu in Beijing and Olga Protchenko in Moscow.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.

Brookfield Business Partners / Westinghouse

Brookfield Business Partners LP, a publicly traded subsidiary of its Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc., is going nuclear. On Jan. 4, it announced a deal to acquire, along with unnamed institutional partners, Westinghouse Electric Co. from Toshiba Corp. for $4.6 billion.

Westinghouse, an iconic American company which was founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse, is a leading supplier of nuclear power plants and fuel, but since filing for bankruptcy last year, it has shifted from constructing new reactors to helping dismantle them, according to The Globe and Mail. It was acquired by Toshiba in 2006 but got into financial trouble last year due to cost overruns and delays at some American construction projects in Georgia and South Carolina, says the Canadian paper.

Cyrus Madon, the chief executive officer of Brookfield Business Partners, said in a statement that he'll be bringing his company's expertise in critical infrastructure and facilities management to Westinghouse. Going forward, analysts suggest, Westinghouse will continue its focus on decommissioning and maintaining aging reactors.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher is representing Brookfield in the transaction, with a team led by Kfir Abutbul, Matthew Feldman, Max Goodman, William Gump and John Longmire and including partners Priya Aiyar, Daniel Alvarez, Anthony Carbone, François Feuillat, Amir Jahanguiri, Michael Katz, Leonard Klingbaum, Robert Meyer, David Mortlock and Spencer Simon, national partners Gianluca Cattani and Faustine Viala, counsel Peter Allman, Jeffrey Clancy, Weston Eguchi, Jonathan Konoff, Andrew Spital and William Thomas, special European counsel Charles-Antoine Erignac and associates David Axelson, John Brennan, Nikki Cassidy, Christine Cea, Kapiljeet Dargan, Timothy DeKeyser, Timothy Dembo, Rachel Dooley, Daniel Elizondo, Noman Goheer, Ryan Hartnett, Andrea Hwang, Daniel Johnstone, Ji Hun Kim, Katie Luton, Annise Maguire, Michael Marietta, Matteo Matteucci, Debra McElligott, Elena Meloni, Alex Moyer, Eric Neidle, Derek Osei-Bonsu, Timothy Porter, Gabrielle Reddé, Mehveen Riaz, Jessica Sutton, Ryan Stott, Sherrone Torres and David Updegrove.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is acting for Westinghouse. Its team is headed by Howard Chatzinoff and Gary Holtzer and includes partners Annemargaret Connolly, Garrett Fail, Stuart Goldring, David Griffiths, James Harvey, Kenneth Heitner, David Irvine, Robert Lemons, Douglas Nave, Jeffrey Osterman, Ted Posner, Amy Rubin, John Scribner, Randi Singer, Douglas Urquhart, Joseph Verdesca, Paul Wessel and Alexander Wood, senior consultant Ian Hamilton, counsels Lawrence Baer, Brian Drozda, Thomas Goslin Ivor Gwilliams and Adam Safwat, attorney Leslie Smith and associates Dennis Adams, Chris Ballantyne, Sarah Bartels, Kevin Bostel, Benjamin Brookstone, Erin Cartledge, Greg Chafuen, David Cohen, Daniel Cohl, John Conte, Mariel Cruz, Sean Devaney, Gabriel Gershowitz, James Higgins, Jessica Liou, Christopher Marotta, Thomas McCarthy, Christine Paik, David Palmer, Stuart Pibworth, Amanda Rosenblum, Andrea Ryken, Nafees Saeed, Sasha Shulzhenko, Elisabeth Sperle and Daniel Waxman.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to closing conditions including bankruptcy court and regulatory approvals.

—Marlisse Silver Sweeney