Lexpert Special Editions

Special Edition on Corporate -2016

The Lexpert Special Editions profiles selected Lexpert-ranked lawyers whose focus is in Corporate, Infrastructure, Energy and Litigation law and relevant practices. It also includes feature articles on legal aspects of Canadian business issues.

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8 LEXPERT | 2016 | WWW.LEXPERT.CA Booth, QC, Robert (Bob) T. Bennett Jones LLP (403) 298-3252 boothb@bennettjones.com Mr. Booth has a broad commercial practice in the energy and resources as well as security and defence sectors. He represents clients in the oil and gas, pipeline, LNG, uranium and electricity sectors, as well as the defence procurement sector. He advises on purchases, sales, new businesses, joint ventures and partnerships. Boislard, Michel Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP (514) 397-7634 mboislard@fasken.com Mr. Boislard's practice focuses on securities, M&A and corporate finance. He acts for public and private companies in national and cross-border matters, and has experience in various sectors, including high-tech and biotechnology industries. Boidman, Nathan Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (514) 841-6409 nboidman@dwpv.com Mr. Boidman is a tax partner advising on international M&A, private-equity fund activities, financings, joint ventures, partnerships and business trusts. He counsels on CRA cross-border disputes, including transfer pricing and tax- related cross-border personal investment matters. He has served, inter alia, as President of the Canadian branch of the International Fiscal Association. Bloom, Brian Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (514) 841-6505 bbloom@dwpv.com Mr. Bloom is a partner and the chair of the Montréal office's Taxation practice group. His practice focuses on income tax law, with particular emphasis on cross-border M&A, international tax planning and transfer pricing. Before entering private practice, he worked for the Department of Finance and the CRA. Block, QC, Randall W. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (403) 232-9572 rblock@blg.com Mr. Block is a partner and Calgary regional manager of BLG's Litigation Department. His practice focuses on energy litigation, arbitration & regulatory proceedings. Typical matters include major energy project development, joint operation disputes, resource ownership challenges & shareholder actions. He is an ACTL Fellow. Biringer, Monica E. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (416) 862-6830 mbiringer@osler.com Ms. Biringer is Co-Chair of Osler's Tax Group. Her practice emphasizes M&A and corporate finance in her corporate income tax practice. Her experience embraces inbound cross-border M&A, corporate financing, lease financing and tax litigation matters. SPACs en there's the debate of what effect – short and long term – that special-purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) offerings will have on M&A activity in Can- ada. e first Canadian SPAC was completed in 2015, although the TSX adopted SPAC rules in 2008. "I'm not saying SPACs, which are new to Canada, are easy deals," says Stikeman's Romano, who leads the Stikeman firm team that raised more than one billion dollars in capital in five SPACs last year. "e fact that money is hard to come by and IPOs, which were robust as heck until last August, have all but disappeared, creates opportunities for SPACs that may not have ex- isted a year ago." Companies who in the past may have opted to go public, he says, are now "taking a second look and say- ing 'maybe this is the way to do our M&A,' as taking away some of the competition for deal flow can help get a transaction done." Mercier says one of the chal- lenges with SPACs is "certainty is king for the seller in a M&A transaction, so having to go back to shareholders has the potential to make the SPAC a less-attractive buyer compared to a strategic or private-equity firm with a firm fi- nancing." However, Mercier says SPACs are potential buyers of assets, and the more buyers the better, if you are a seller, so in that sense it's a good development. CCAA and merger combinations As to what lies ahead for Western Canada, Zawalsky says, "there's a belief in the City [Calgary] that we may see some CCAAs, although we haven't seen much of that yet, which is surprising given how depressed com- modity prices have been." In the 1980s and '90s, also a time of depressed oil and gas prices, Zawalsky says the economy spurred some creative CCAA solutions, so a company could move forward, in which creditor arrangements were mixed with mergers, such as Dome Petroleum's acquisition by Amoco. "We haven't seen any of those types of arrange- ments yet," says Zawalsky, "but we think we might, de- pending on commodity prices." Another macro event affecting M&A is the dramatic upcoming change in the Canadian hostile take-over bid rules. At press time, the new regime was scheduled to take effect on May 9, 2016. According to Romano, the new rules will make hostile take-over bids harder to do, which may reduce investor gains from M&A opportu- nities. For example, financing costs for hostile bidders borrowing cash will go up, as will their transaction ex- LEXPERT RANKED LAWYERS

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