Canada's 2014 Leading Corporate Lawyers RETAIL | 21
Katz, Warren M.
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(514) 397-3260
wkatz@stikeman.com
Mr. Katz specializes
in corporate fi nance,
securities and M&A.
Advises public issuers
and under writers on
debt and equity off erings,
and acts for buyers and
sellers of both public
and private companies,
including well-known US
private-equity funds.
Keizer, Charles
Tor ys LLP
(416) 865-7512
ckeizer@torys.com
Mr. Keizer's domestic and
international infrastructure
and energy practice focuses
on administrative and
corporate/commercial
law in the energy sectors,
and includes project
development and
regulator y matters for
sector participants.
Kent, Andrew J.F.
McMillan LLP
(416) 865-7160
andrew.kent@mcmillan.ca
Mr. Kent practises fi nance
and restructuring, serving
as National Co-chair,
Financial Services and
Restructuring, and as
CEO of McMillan LLP.
He is highly ranked in
many leading directories
and has been named
one of Canada's most
infl uential lawyers.
Kazaz, Charles
Blake, Cassels &
Graydon LLP
(514) 982-4002
charles.kazaz@blakes.com
Mr. Kazaz, an
environmental and
mining lawyer, advises
clients in the mining,
manufacturing, industrial
and property development
sectors on permitting,
regulator y compliance
and enforcement, M&A,
mine reclamation and
mining rights issues.
Kellerman, Jay C.
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5201
jkellerman@stikeman.com
Managing partner of the
Toronto offi ce and co-
head of the fi rm's global
mining group. Recognized
internationally as a leading
mining lawyer and acts for
Canadian and international
mining companies and
fi nancial institutions.
Keough, Loyola G.
Bennett Jones LLP
(403) 298-3429
keoughl@
bennettjones.com
Mr. Keough is a partner
in the fi rm's Regulator y/
Environmental
Department. He has
particular experience
in oil, gas, electricity,
LNG, rates, facilities and
environmental matters.
His clients include
utilities, buyers, producers,
shippers and banks.
strength of the brand really is thought to
be critical," says David Woollcombe, an
M&A partner with McCarthy Tétrault
LLP. Looking ahead, he sees continued
consolidation among retailers, but "the
real strategic question," he says, is "how do
you stand out and diff erentiate yourself in
the market?"
ink back to Canadian Tire's 2011
acquisition of e Forzani Group, he
suggests, "where Forzani had an assort-
ment of brands, some of which were do-
ing okay, some of which were struggling."
By drawing on their extensive retail expe-
rience in Canada and "investing a signifi -
cant amount of money in repositioning
the brands, in particular Sport Chek, Ca-
nadian Tire's experience shows that if you
can take a reasonably known brand and
invest in it you can solidify your position
as the market leader. If you can pull it off
as they did, the fi nancial returns can be
pretty signifi cant."
Brands
As to the impact of brand familiar-
ity, Bryce says an interesting aspect of
many of the 2013 retail M&A deals was
their popularity with the market. "In
both the Safeway/Sobeys and the Lo-
blaw/Shoppers deals, the buyer's stock
price rose immediately on announce-
ment, something we don't see that of-
ten in the M&A busi-
ness. ese were deals
whose brand names,
synergies and business
strateg y didn't require
a leap of faith for peo-
ple to understand."
A constant theme
that runs through most
discussions when look-
ing at future Canadian
retail M&A is the mon-
etization, in some fash-
ion, of real estate.
"When people think
of the retail merchan-
dising space's transac-
tions in 2013, they
think of the sexier
Sobeys/Safeway and
L o b l a w / S h o p p e r s
transactions, but prob-
ably one of the biggest
deals last year was the
monetization of the Loblaw real estate
portfolio," says Neill May, an M&A part-
ner at Goodmans LLP in Toronto.
" ere's an appetite in Canada for
yield-oriented investments, particularly
in real estate, that has sustained itself, and
for larger-scale retailers unlocking the val-
ue of their real estate is an intelligent and
effi cient way to raise fi nancing."
REITs
As retailers look to fi nance acquisitions
through spinning off their real estate into
real estate investment trusts (REITs),
how much impact does the "retail brand"
have in the market? May says, "Certainly
at the retail end of the market, which is
an important part of the market, the asso-
ciation with brand names could resonate
"CROMBIE COMPLETED A PUBLIC
OFFERING OF TRUST UNITS AND
CONVERTIBLE DEBENTURES AND
USED THE PROCEEDS OF THE
OFFERING TO PURCHASE FROM
SOBEYS A NUMBER OF SAFEWAY
STORE LOCATIONS, THEREBY
PROVIDING SOBEYS WITH A
PORTION OF THE PURCHASE PRICE
FOR ITS ACQUISITION OF CANADA
SAFEWAY. IN THAT TRANSACTION, A
STRONG REIT FINANCING MARKET
WAS IMPORTANT TO THE
FINANCING OF THE ACQUISITION."
– Jeff Lloyd, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
