Dale-Parizeau LM and Morris & Mackenzie merge their operations

On December 6, 2006, Dale-Parizeau LM Inc. and Morris & Mackenzie Inc., two of Québec's largest independent privately owned insurance brokers, merged their operations. The combined operations of Dale-Parizeau and Morris Mackenzie will create Québec's largest independent and privately owned insurance broker writing over $200 million of premium with 400 staff operating in 5 offices throughout the province and one service office in Ontario. Aviva Canada was instrumental in facilitating the transaction. In connection with the transaction the commercial insurance brokerage business carried on by Morris & Mackenzie Inc. in its offices in Toronto and Vancouver was sold to Hunter Keilty Muntz & Beatty Limited (HKMB) and will be integrated into HKMB's operations in the first quarter of 2007. HKMB is well established in the Toronto market and the acquisition of Morris & Mackenzie's Toronto office builds on that foundation. Through the acquisition of the Vancouver business, HKMB now has an important presence in Western Canada and new opportunities for expansion. The transaction was financed by loans from Aviva Canada and the Bank of Montreal. HKMB provides risk management and insurance services across Canada and throughout the world. As a result of this transaction, HKMB is now Canada's largest privately held commercial insurance broker with annual written premiums exceeding $300 million. Dale-Parizeau LM Inc. was represented by Fasken Martineau with a team that included David Lemieux, Andrew Ford, Daniel Yelin, Felix Gutierrez, Stéphane Caïdi and Andrew Klug (Montréal) and Stephen Kerr, David Johnson, Scott Mitchell, Wojtek Baraniak (Toronto), Claude Jodoin and Thomas Copeland (tax) and Lyne Duhaime and Dominique Monet (pensions and benefits).