A group of investors including HarbourVest Partners, LLC, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Investissement Québec, Investment Arm, members of the senior management team of Knowlton led by Cornell Capital LLC agreed to acquire a stake in Knowlton Development Corporation from Novacap Investments, Inc., Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Investissement Québec, Investment Arm on November 7, 2018. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Investissement Québec are rolling over significant stakes of their equity as part of the transaction. Cornell's investment in investment in Knowlton is consistent with its strategy of identifying attractive platform companies and partnering with strong management teams to grow businesses organically and through acquisitions.

The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions including approval by the Federal Trade Commission. As of November 19, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission granted an early termination notice to the transaction. The transaction is expected to close over the next quarter.

Guggenheim Securities LLC acted as financial advisor and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP acted as legal advisor to Knowlton. Christopher Machera, Arnie Fridhandler, Theodora Tavridou, Harris Ahmad, Dianna Robinson, Andrew Colao, Charan Sandhu, Mark Schwed, Michael Nissan, John Mastando, Gary Friedman, Matthew Morton, John O'Loughlin, Vadim Brusser, Jacqueline Diaz, Ben Lazar, Catherine Minji Kim, Alexa Rozell, Philip Grudzina, Jillian Claire Richardson, Steven Ort, Craig Olshan, Travis Bruno, Gabriel Gershowitz, Jonathan Cheng, Jay Minga and Justin Michael DiGennaro of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Warren Silversmith, Hélia Taheri, Samantha Allen, Evara David, Frank Mathieu, Nathaniel Lacasse, Stephanie Weschler, Stephanie Pasternyk, Jeff Brown, Michael Kilby, Megan MacDonald, Natasha vandenHoven, Allyson Marta and Marie-Claude David of Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as legal advisors to Cornell Capital. Franziska Ruf, Nicolas Morin, Élodie Fon and Marie-Emmanuelle Vaillancourt of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP acted as legal advisor to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.