WWW.LEXPERT.CA
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2019
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LEXPERT 35
Turner, John S.M. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
(416) 865-4380 jturner@fasken.com
Mr. Turner is the Leader of Fasken's Global Mining group and the Securities,
Mergers & Acquisitions group. His practice is focused in the resource sector,
where he has been involved in many leading corporate finance and mergers
& acquisitions deals. He represents issuers and underwriters in transactions
involving resource companies active throughout the globe.
Turcotte, Maxime Stikeman Elliott LLP
(514) 397-2421 mturcotte@stikeman.com
Mr. Turcotte is a partner in the Corporate Group. His practice is primarily
focused on providing corporate advice in the context of mergers &
acquisitions (private and public), corporate finance & projects. He has
also acquired extensive experience in the area of renewable energy,
infrastructure and utilities.
Torrey, John W. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
(416) 865-4394 jtorrey@fasken.com
Mr. Torrey has extensive expertise in the area of secured lending transactions.
With experience in all areas of lending, he has particular expertise in project
and acquisition financings and in all aspects of mine finance. He acts on
behalf of both borrowers and lenders and has extensive experience with
a broad range of financings in a broad range of industries.
Thornton, Robert I. Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP
(416) 304-0560 rthornton@tgf.ca
Mr. Thornton, a Fellow of the IIC and ACB, is named "Lawyer of the Year" in
The Best Lawyers in Canada 2018. Euromoney's The Best of the Best 2018
recognized him as one of the top five insolvency and restructuring lawyers
in Canada, while Chambers Global ranks him as a Band 1 Leading Individual
in Restructuring. He is described as "a leading light" and "one of the most
innovative in the field."
Taylor, Ashley John Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5236 ataylor@stikeman.com
Mr. Taylor is a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. He is a
former Co-Head of the Restructuring & Insolvency Group, and currently serves
on the Associates' Committee in the Toronto office. He practises exclusively
in the area of insolvency law and represents debtors, court-appointed
officers, secured lenders and purchasers.
Strawson, Anthony V. Felesky Flynn LLP
(403) 260-5634 astrawson@felesky.com
In addition to being a tax lawyer, Mr. Strawson is a professional accountant
holding designations in Canada and the US. He has written and spoken on
numerous taxation law matters including for the Canadian Tax Foundation, the
Canadian Petroleum Tax Society, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners,
the Canadian Bar Association and numerous accounting groups.
LEXPERT-RANKED LAWYERS
in CanniMed's purchase by Aurora, notes that
Canada's cannabis sector is equivalent in size to
California's cannabis marketplace. Canadian
licensed producers are buying capacity and an-
cillary services, but are also looking elsewhere to
grow their business markets.
"We're seeing them overseas, … making ac-
quisitions domestically and internationally,"
Belovich says. "ey're realizing that to stay rel-
evant and profitable, you need to do more than
grow for Canada."
Will 2019 bring the same blockbuster deals to
the cannabis industry as 2018 did?
Olasker sees cannabis M&A as moving in
waves. e first wave began in 2015, she says,
and she believes "the consolidation wave … has
come and gone." e second wave, including the
Aurora-MedReleaf deal that she advised on last
year, involved deals in which shareholders took
a key role in deciding whether companies they'd
invested in were wholly or partly for sale.
e third wave, which Olasker sees as taking
place now, involves activity that "is not Canadian
buys Canadian, but non-industry player buys in-
dustry player." is includes the Constellation-
Canopy and Altria-Cronos Group deals, as well
as Molson Coors Brewing Co.'s acquisition of e
Hydropothecary Corporation last year.
"All these players are coming onto the Canadi-
an stage and buying whole companies, or entering
into a control-like relationship with the Canadian
entities," Olasker says. "at's been interesting,
and has delivered a lot of value into the hands of
Canadian players."
Dhillon predicts "a flurry of activity" in 2019,
with, potentially, some blockbuster deals based
on companies with good synergies joining forc-
es. On the other side, he says, as the cannabis
market starts to find its feet, "I think we'll see
some entities that don't perform well being tar-
gets, and can be scooped up cheap," made even
easier since the cannabis sector has largely been
funded with shares.
"I think in 2019 we will continue to see large
amounts of activity, and it will outstrip 2018,
quite frankly."
Aurora Cannabis's ultimately successful take-
over of CanniMed erapeutics, completed on
May 2, was "a rollercoaster," says Stikeman El-
liott's Belovich, who led the legal team for Can-
niMed. What started as a meat-and-potatoes
M&A deal in terms of the acquisition became a
hostile take-over bid by Aurora midway through,
he says, and the deal also contained many "firsts."
Not only was this deal the first high-profile
M&A deal in the cannabis space, but also the first
under Canada's new take-over rules that took effect
in 2016, which give companies more time to re-
spond to unsolicited offers and find a higher bidder.
