Lexpert®Ranked Lawyers
10 | Energy Deals
Carpenter, A.W.
(Sandy)
Blake, Cassels &
Graydon LLP
(403) 260-9768
sandy.carpenter@
blakes.com
Widely recognized
as one of the leading
project development,
Aboriginal and
regulatory lawyers in
Canada, Mr. Carpenter
has helped clients
succeed on numerous
critical energy projects
and regulatory
proceedings.
Card, Duncan C.
Bennett Jones LLP
(416) 777-6446
cardd@bennettjones.
com
Mr. Card is widely
regarded as
one of Canada's
leading technology,
outsourcing and
complex commercial
transactions lawyers.
He is called to both the
Ontario and Bermuda
Bars, and he has
served as a director of
several multinational
corporations.
Carson, Lorne W.
Osler, Hoskin &
Harcourt LLP
(403) 260-7083
lcarson@osler.com
Mr. Carson, also an
engineer, focuses
on domestic and
international project
development and
fi nance in the oil and
gas, electrical power
and other infrastructure
sectors. His experience
embraces multi-party
and joint ventures.
Chamberlain, Adam
Borden Ladner
Gervais LLP
(416) 367-6172
achamberlain@blg.
com
Mr. Chamberlain's
practice focuses
on environmental,
Aboriginal
and regulatory
requirements for
energy and other
projects. He leads
BLG's Team North
and Climate Change
Groups, and is
Regional Leader of the
fi rm's Aboriginal and
Forestry Law Groups.
Cassidy, Paul R.
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
(604) 643-5898
pcassidy@mccarthy.
ca
Mr. Cassidy's practice
is a combination of
regulatory, corporate/
commercial, litigation
and policy work in a
variety of industries,
including the energy
(conventional,
upstream production,
pipelines, LNG and
renewable) and natural
resources sectors.
Christian, Jeff
Lawson Lundell LLP
(604) 631-9115
jchristian@
lawsonlundell.com
Mr. Christian is a
litigation partner with
a practice focused
on energy and
regulated utilities. He
represents utilities,
power marketers and
consumer groups in
proceedings before
administrative tribunals
such as the BCUC, the
AUC and the NEB.
Lexpert®Ranked Lawyers
quisitions of any kind by state-owned en-
terprises crashed to $320 million in 2013.
And by early 2014, Calgary investment
dealer Peters & Co. Limited estimated
some $17 billion worth of oil sands assets
were sitting idle on the auction block.
Spitznagel and Bennett Jones's col-
league Don Greenfi eld visited their fi rm's
Beijing offi ce early in 2013 and Greenfi eld
says they found "some level of concern"
from Chinese clients that the new policy
might refl ect an anti-China bias. Now,
they say, Chinese companies are taking
a less sensitive view. Moreover, they say,
other factors outweighed the SOE ban in
cratering 2013 M&A values.
Greenfi eld says 2013 was logically a
year of consolidation, in which investors
of all stripes, including SOEs, took time
to rationalize previous acquisitions. "All
those companies were digesting those as-
sets." He also says many of the assets ac-
quired in 2012 demanded additional cash
infusions in 2013 that didn't show up
on M&A tables but taxed the abilities of
companies to make further acquisitions.
Spitznagel says the pause was also partly driven by concern
for the slow pace of approvals for new Canadian export pipe-
lines. "We've really only got one market for our oil and gas,"
he says. All Canada's export pipelines serve the US, which
is rapidly becoming self-suffi cient in oil and gas due to new
shale-based production, he explains. SOEs seeking secure
Ottawa allowed the Nexen and Progress acquisitions to
proceed but slammed the door on further controlling pur-
chases of oil sands assets by SOEs. What Ottawa considered
to be a state-owned enterprise and what level of ownership
would be considered eff ective control were questions le
open to ministerial interpretation.
While the ban applied only to oil sands assets, energy ac-
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
