On January 23, 2012, Pan American Silver Corp. (Pan American) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Minefinders Corporation Ltd. (Minefinders) pursuant to which Pan American will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Minefinders by way of a plan of arrangement.

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) acted for Pan American with a team that included Fred R. Pletcher, Kent D. Kufeldt, Graeme Martindale, Michael Waters, Samir Patel, Richard J. Bennett, Jeffrey S. Thomas, Martha Martindale, David Di Paolo and Kara L. Beitel.

The acquisition of Minefinders, which owns the Dolores silver and gold mine in northern Mexico and the nearby La Bolsa property set to begin production later this year, will establish Pan American as the world’s leading geographically-diversified primary silver mining company.

Under the terms of the arrangement agreement, Minefinders shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive, in exchange for each Minefinders share held, either: (i) 0.55 shares of Pan American and $1.84 in cash; or (ii) 0.6235 shares of Pan American; or (iii) $15.60 in cash, subject to certain restrictions.

The proposed transaction implies a total transaction value of approximately $1.5 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, existing Minefinders shareholders will own approximately 33% of Pan American on a fully-diluted basis.