Canada's 2014 Leading Corporate Lawyers REGULATION | 17
Grieve, Sander
Bennett Jones LLP
(416) 863-1200
grieves@bennettjones.com
Head of the Mining
Department at Bennett
Jones LLP, Mr. Grieve
practises public market
fi nance and M&A with
a focus on global mining.
He represents a range
of the leading miners,
dealers and advisors in the
global mining industr y.
Guindi, Shahir
Osler, Hoskin &
Harcourt LLP
(514) 904-8126
sguindi@osler.com
Mr. Guindi, managing
partner of the Montreal
offi ce, focuses on
domestic and cross-
border M&A, corporate
fi nance, private equity
and venture capital. He
also acts for PE funds on
investments, divestitures
and fund formations.
Hansell, Carol
Hansell LLP
(416) 649-8486
chansell@
hanselladvisory.com
Ms. Hansell advises on a
wide range of corporate
and securities matters. She
represents management,
boards, investors and
regulators in the context of
transactions, investigations,
special committees
and their governance
practices generally.
Gropper, QC,
Mitchell H.
Farris, Vaughan, Wills
& Murphy LLP
(604) 661-9322
mgropper@farris.com
Mr. Gropper's practice
focuses on corporate
fi nance, reorganizations,
M&A and commercial
real estate. He has advised
boards of directors on
take-over bids, going-
private transactions and
other corporate matters.
Halperin, Stephen H.
Goodmans LLP
(416) 597-4115
shalperin@goodmans.ca
Mr. Halperin is a member
of the fi rm's Executive
Committee and Co-chair
of its corporate/securities
group. Member of the
OSC's Senior Securities
Lawyers Advisor y
Group. Highest ranking
by Chambers Global in
Corporate/M&A for
the past 12 years.
Hansen, Robert O.
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
(416) 601-8200
rhansen@mccarthy.ca
Mr. Hansen focuses on
M&A and capital markets.
He represents purchasers,
vendors, targets and
special committees on
asset and share purchases
and sales; and issuers,
dealers and investors on
private placements and
prospectus off erings.
become "a concern on the part of anyone
who is thinking about an acquisition."
Especially if you are a business leader con-
templating a hostile take-over.
"One of the defences that any target is
going to pull out now is run to the politi-
cians and see if they will save them," says
Chambers. "And that's a real concern if
your buying client is a state-owned en-
terprise and it's foreign. But it's also a real
concern if your client is buying something
in Quebec and you are not from Quebec."
at premise was painfully illustrated
to Bay Street when US hardware giant
Lowe's tried to buy Quebec-based Rona
Inc. for $1.8 billion in 2012. " e target
there wrapped itself in the Quebec fl ag
and conducted a pretty good publicity
campaign, saying we can't have Ameri-
cans coming in and buying our heritage.
"Shouldn't the highest price win?"
Chambers asks rhetorically. "But the re-
ality is, that's not always the case. If you
can turn a deal into an emotional issue,
or a political one, you can perhaps make
some headway."
As corporate buyers construct deal
teams, that has put added emphasis on
bringing in top-notch government rela-
tions specialists. "You also need to pay a
fair bit of attention to the PR guys," adds
Chambers. "A lot of this is court of pub-
lic opinion. And if you can diff use that
so it doesn't become
a political hot po-
tato, [this] is impor-
tant as well."
But Cameron
Belsher, a Vancouver
partner at McCarthy
Tétrault LLP, says it
would be overstat-
ing things to say that
business executives
are "spooked" by the
evolving and more
stringent regulatory
regimes in Canada
and the West when it
comes to M&A.
Belsher and his
fi rm were just in-
volved in one of the
largest e-commerce deals in Canadian
history — the purchase of Vancouver-
based Coastal Contacts (parent company
of Clearly Contacts) by French optical
company Essilor International SA for
$435 million. e deal, announced in
February, still has to go through regu-
latory approval. But Belsher takes it as
some evidence that the chilling eff ect on
M&A of this regulatory epoch in Cana-
dian and international business may be
more media puff than reality. Executives
have become more adept at doing deals
in multiple jurisdictions than ever before
in a global economy. Essilor, for instance,
has operations in 17 countries.
"Corporations and leaders of corpora-
tions are used to having to deal with regu-
latory issues. e press that was generated
over the federal government's views on
the Investment Canada and Competition
Act is something I think business leaders
take in stride."
Anthony Davis is a eelance business writer
and investigative journalist in Calgary.
"ONE OF THE DEFENCES THAT ANY
TARGET IS GOING TO PULL OUT NOW
IS RUN TO THE POLITICIANS AND
SEE IF THEY WILL SAVE THEM. AND
THAT'S A REAL CONCERN IF YOUR
BUYING CLIENT IS A STATE-OWNED
ENTERPRISE AND IT'S FOREIGN.
BUT IT'S ALSO A REAL CONCERN
IF YOUR CLIENT IS BUYING
SOMETHING IN QUEBEC AND
YOU ARE NOT FROM QUEBEC."
– Gordon Chambers, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP
