On December 17, 2001, ING Canada acquired the Canadian personal property and casualty insurance business and small and mid-market commercial property and casualty insurance business of Zurich North America Canada. As part of the transaction, Zurich will acquire segments of ING Canada's large corporate property and casualty insurance business. The transaction combines elements of indemnity reinsurance, transfers and assumptions and policy renewals. ING Canada and Zurich are also entering into a strategic alliance whereby each will offer its products to each other's distributors and customers. The transaction consolidates ING Canada's position as the leading general insurer in Canada and Zurich's position as the leading large corporate insurer in Canada. In-house counsel Françoise Guénette, Bernie Stevenson and Gordon Manning co-ordinated the transaction for ING Canada while Fasken Martineau's Robert McDowell, Gary Fogler and Stephen Kerr (corporate), Ian kyer, John Beardwood and John Marsalek (IT), Liz Johnson and Mitchell Thaw (tax), David Vincent (pensions), Ralph Nero (employment) and David Allsebrook (intellectual property) provided legal advice.