LEXPERT RANKED LAWYERS
"THE MARKET FOR
Booth, QC, Robert (Bob) T.
Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3252
boothb@bennettjones.com
> Mr. Booth has a broad commercial practice in energy and
resources. He represents clients in the oil and gas, pipeline,
LNG, uranium and electricity sectors. He advises on purchases,
sales, new businesses, joint ventures and partnerships.
Bouchard, Lucien
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
(514) 841-6515
lbouchard@dwpv.com
> Mr. Bouchard is a partner in the Corporate/Commercial,
Litigation, M&A, Energy and Mining practices. He advises large
corporations on strategic issues and policy matters in addition
to acting as negotiator and mediator for significant disputes.
Branchaud, René
royalties is extremely competitive.
So if there is an issuer that
wants to do a royalty deal, they
will have multiple parties bidding
for the royalty deal, whether it
is private equity firms that are
trying to acquire these royalties
and package them into new
companies, or whether it's new
companies that are effectively
being created in the Silver
Wheaton model. It's a really good
model, and whenever somebody
comes up with good business
model, others try to mimic it."
– Melanie Shishler, Davies Ward Phillips
& Vineberg LLP
Lavery, de Billy, L.L.P.
(514) 877-3040
rbranchaud@lavery.ca
> Mr. Branchaud's mining law practice embraces
corporate structuring, joint venture agreements, mergers
and acquisitions, assets and share acquisitions, private
placements, public offerings and corporate governance.
Carbonaro, David P
.
Heenan Blaikie LLP
(416) 643-6836
dcarbonaro@heenan.ca
> Mr. Carbonaro practises international law, corporate finance
and mining. He advises public companies, securities dealers
and investment banks on corporate finance matters in a
rapidly changing and demanding regulatory landscape.
Chambers, Gordon R.
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
(604) 691-6106
gchambers@casselsbrock.com
> Mr. Chambers's securities practice embraces public and private
offerings, regulatory requirements and M&A. His clients include
mining companies, special committees of boards and duallisted issuers (particularly TSX-listed Australian companies).
Charest, Jean
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
(514) 397-4100
jcharest@mccarthy.ca
> Mr. Charest provides expertise with his in-depth knowledge
and experience with public policy, corporate Canada and
international matters. As a strategic advisor, he advises on
complex transactions, projects and international mandates.
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LEXPERT
| 2013/14 | WWW.LEXPERT.CA
ing, exploration and analysis to advance their projects
when equity markets have turned into a dry well. "A
lot of juniors have had to go into care and maintenance
mode," says Murray.
But there is hope for the juniors.
Last August, Sandstorm Gold, founded in 2009 by
two former employees of Silver Wheaton, announced
it was completing an acquisition of Premier Royalty
Inc. Premier was primarily focused on funding juniors
at the exploration stage.
Murray says the deal "allows Sandstorm to pass
along opportunities that are too small for a stream to
Premier Royalty to be handled by its separate management team. I think that's a great long-term move
because it gives Sandstorm the opportunity to try and
build relationships with advanced exploration issuers
early in the mine development cycle, with the hopes
of securing a streaming agreement as the project advances and before the established players become interested in it."
As well, he adds, "there is a whole bunch of upstarts" on the royalty side of the business. And those
upstarts have a greater appetite for risk — good news
for the juniors.
Some of the royalty upstarts are being created by
private equity funds, which used to provide capital to
mining companies through private placements or large
purchases of equity on the stock market. But they've
watched as royalty deals have proved an effective and
profitable way to finance the junior players. "People
have really locked onto this as a business model and we
have clients who are in that space now trying to create