Adam Givertz is Head of the firm’s Canadian Practice Group and a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity groups. Based in New York and Toronto, Adam advises corporate clients, private equity sponsors and pension funds in connection with public M&A as well as private acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures. Adam also regularly advises boards of directors and special committees in connection with strategic review processes and engagements with activist investors.
Adam has been cited in Chambers Global, The Legal 500, IFLR 1000, Who’s Who Legal, Expert Guides and American Lawyer as a leading M&A and capital markets practitioner and for his advice to Boards in connection with shareholder activism. MergerLinks ranked Adam number one on its annual list of Top M&A Lawyers in Canada 2023 and 2022 and among the “Top PE Lawyers in North America” in 2023. He was also recognized for his client service by Client Choice Awards, rated as a “Star” by Acritas and as a “Stand-Out Lawyer” by Thompson Reuters.
Adam’s experience covers a broad range of industries, including financial services, energy, mining and metals, technology, telecommunications, retail and industrial. Notable transactions include representing:
Financial Services
- AmTrust Financial Services in the sale of all of its equity interests in the Amynta Group to Madison Dearborn Partners and in the sale of AmTrust Mobile Solutions Singapore Pte to a subsidiary of Pacific Century Group
- Amynta Group in its acquisition of Ambridge Group from Brit Insurance and in the acquisition of the surety operations of Aspen Insurance
- The Ardonagh Group, and its shareholders, Madison Dearborn Partners and HPS Investment Partners, in the investment by funds managed by Stone Point Capital, valuing Ardonagh at $14 billion
- Argo Group International Holdings in the sale of Trident Public Risk Solutions to Paragon Insurance Holdings and the sale of Ariel Re to Pelican Ventures and J.C. Flowers & Co.
- CDPQ in its $4.3 billion acquisition of USI Insurance Services with KKR, its initial $500 million investment in Sedgwick, in connection with Carlyle’s $6.7 billion acquisition of Sedgwick and in a recapitalization of Sedgwick in connection with a $1 billion minority investment led by Altas Partners
- Controlling stockholders in the $2.9 billion going private of AmTrust Financial Services
- Fairfax Financial Holdings in its acquisitions of Zenith National Insurance and First Mercury Financial and its buyout of the minority shareholders of Odyssey Re
- Hub International in its $1.7 billion acquisition by funds affiliated with Apax and Morgan Stanley
- John B. Collins Associates in its acquisition by a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan
- Madison Dearborn Partners:
- and HPS Investment Partners in the $13.4 billion sale of their portfolio company NFP to Aon plc
- in the restructuring of its portfolio company Blue Lantern Health
- Maiden Holdings in:
- its combination with Kestrel Group to form a new, publicly listed specialty insurance company
- the sale of its U.S. reinsurance business to Enstar
- Maple Group Acquisition Corporation in its C$3.8 billion acquisition of TMX Group
- Mitsui Sumitomo in its acquisition of New York Life’s interest in Max New York Life
- National General Holdings in its $4 billion sale to The Allstate Corporation
- Navacord in the management buyout with MDP
- The Special Committee of Independent Directors of Nuvei Corporation in the $6.3 billion take-private acquisition by Advent International and existing shareholders
- RSA in the sale of its Canadian insurance broker Noraxis to Arthur J. Gallagher
- Sompo Japan Insurance Company in its investment in AmWINS
- Union Bank of California in the sale of its insurance brokerage business to BB&T
Energy and Infrastructure
- Agrium in its $36 billion merger with Potash Corporation
- Algoma Steel Group in its $1.7 billion combination with Legato
- Birch Hill Equity Partners in the $2.3 billion acquisition of Shred-It International by Stericycle
- CDPQ in its investment in Azure Power Global
- Cenovus Energy in its C$23.6 billion combination with Husky Energy
- Ecopetrol in its $1.75 billion its joint acquisition of BP Exploration Company (Colombia) and its acquisition of Enbridge’s interests in the Ocensa pipeline
- Hammerhead Resources in its C$1.39 billion combination with Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation IV to form Hammerhead Energy
- Nexen Inc. in its $15.1 billion acquisition by CNOOC
- Ovintiv in its redomestication transaction to become a Delaware corporation, its $7.7 billion acquisition of Newfield Resources and its $7.1 billion acquisition of Athlon Energy
- Palladium Equity Partners in its acquisition of Q’Max Solutions
- Riot Platforms in its unsolicited bid to acquire Bitfarms
- Stantec in its sale of MWH Constructors to Oak Tree, its acquisition of MWH Global, its acquisition of SECOR and its acquisition of The Keith Companies
- Suncor Energy in its $15 billion acquisition of Petro-Canada
- Talisman in its $8.3 billion acquisition by Repsol
- TransGlobe Energy Corporation in its business combination with VAALCO Energy, Inc.
Mining
- Aurizon Mines in its defense against an unsolicited offer from Alamos Gold and its acquisition by Hecla Mining
- Dhilmar in its acquisition of the Éléonore gold mine from Newmont Corporation
- Dominion Diamond in its $1.2 billion acquisition by the Washington Group
- Franco-Nevada in its unsolicited offer to acquire International Royalty
- Lundin Mining in its $950 million acquisition of a majority stake in Lumina Copper, $1.1 billion unsolicited offer to acquire Nevsun, its $1.1 billion sale of its interest in Tenke, its $1.8 billion acquisition of 80% of Candelaria and its acquisition of the Eagle Project from Rio Tinto
- Osisko Gold Royalties in the $1.1 billion acquisition of Orion Mine Finance’s royalty portfolio
- Pretium Resources in its $2.8 billion sale to Newcrest Mining
- Quadra FNX Mining in its C$3.5 billion acquisition by KGHM Polska Miedz
- Romarco Minerals in its acquisition by Oceanagold
- SilverCrest Metals in its $1.7 billion acquisition by Coeur Mining
- Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of Vedanta, in its proposed $2.6 billion acquisition of ASARCO out of Chapter 11
- Timmins Gold in its unsolicited offer to acquire Capital Gold and its acquisitions of Newstrike Capital and Caballo Blanco
- Turquoise Hill in its $6.6 billion acquisition by Rio Tinto
- Yamana Gold in its $4.8 billion acquisition by Pan American Silver and Agnico Eagle, in its terminated $6.7 billion agreement to be acquired by Gold Fields and in its joint C$3.9 billion acquisition of Osisko Mining
Technology
- AlphaDesk in its sale to Refinitiv
- ATI Technologies in its $5.4 billion acquisition by Advanced Micro Devices
- D-Wave Systems in its $1.6 billion combination with DPCM Capital
- General Atlantic in its investment in Flipp
- Mitel Networks in its $2.0 billion sale to funds affiliated with Searchlight Capital, its acquisition of ShoreTel, its acquisition of Toshiba’s Unified Communications business, the sale of its mobile division to a portfolio company of Siris Capital, its proposed $2.0 billion acquisition of Polycom, its acquisition of Mavenir Systems and its unsolicited offer to acquire ShoreTel
- NuORDER in its sale to Lightspeed
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in its acquisition of Compass Datacenters with Redbird Capital and its investments in Datapipe, Tierpoint and Ascend Learning
- Score Media & Gaming in its $2 billion sale to Penn National Gaming
- Shopify in its $2.1 billion acquisition of Deliverr
- Stantec in the sale of its software division, Innovyze, to EQT Private Equity
Consumer, Retail and Other Industries
- Altor in its acquisition of CCM Hockey
- Canadian Tire in its acquisition of Forzani Group
- Empire Company in its acquisition of Farm Boy
- General Atlantic in its investments in Pague Menos Pharmacies and Sanfer
- Glatfelter in its acquisition of Concert Industries from Brookfield
- Global Auto Holdings in its $1.2 billion acquisition of K.W. Bruun
- Homesteaders Life in its C$1.2 billion acquisition of Park Lawn with Birch Hill Equity Partners
- Interbank in its acquisition of InkaFarma
- Intertape Polymer Group in its $2.6 billion sale to an affiliate of Clearlake Capital Group
- Jamieson Wellness in its acquisition of Nutrawise Health & Beauty
- Medicago in its acquisition by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma
- Millar Western in the restructuring of its debt and sale of control to Atlas Holdings
Activism
- Agrium in its proxy contest with Jana Partners
- AmTrust in its proxy contest and settlement with Carl Icahn
- Argo Group in its proxy contest with Voce Capital Management
- Dominion Diamond in a threatened proxy contest, engagement and settlement with Washington Group
- Granite REIT in its proxy contest with FrontFour
- IAMGOLD in its proxy contest and settlement with RCF
- Mitel Networks in its engagement and agreements with Elliot Management
- Performance Sports in its proxy contest with its former Chairman
- Ovintiv in its engagement and settlement with Kimmeridge
- Shareholder group in its engagement and settlement with Dominion Diamond
- Suncor Energy in the activist campaign by, and settlement agreement with, Elliott Management
- Taseko Mines in its proxy contest with Raging River
- Talisman in its engagement and settlement with Carl Icahn
- Timmins Gold in its proxy contest and settlement with Sentry Investments
- TransCanada in its response to Sandell
- Turquoise Hill in its engagement with Sailing Stone and its successful proxy contest with Pentwater
