Hewat, Christopher A.
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(416) 863-2761
chris.hewat@blakes.com
Mr. Hewat's practice consists
of advising on securities
and business law matters,
with a focus on mergers
& acquisitions, corporate
fi nance and private-equity
transactions, with particular
expertise advising clients
in the technology sector.
Holgate, David A.
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(403) 266-9010
dholgate@stikeman.com
Mr. Holgate focuses
on energy regulation as
counsel for applicants and
intervenors before federal
and provincial regulatory
agencies on matters in the
energy sector, including
oil, gas and electricity.
Horn, Sidney M.
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(514) 397-3342
smhorn@stikeman.com
Mr. Horn is a partner
specializing in commercial,
corporate and securities
law. Advises large domestic
and international corpora-
tions on complex questions
concerning fi nance, M&A,
debt restructurings and
corporate governance.
Hill, Krista F.
Torys LLP
(416) 865-7953
khill@torys.com
Ms. Hill is widely recog-
nized as a leading lawyer in
infrastructure and energy
M&A and project develop-
ment. She has signifi cant
expertise in all aspects of
power projects, including
nuclear, gas-fi red, wind,
hydro and solar projects.
Horn, Samantha G.
Stikeman Elliott LLP
(416) 869-5636
sghorn@stikeman.com
Ms. Horn's practice is fo-
cused in the areas of mergers
and acquisitions of private
companies, primarily for
private equity and venture
capital buyers, including both
minority and majority invest-
ments and buy-outs, as well
as fund formation activities.
Horner, Clay
Osler, Hoskin
& Harcourt LLP
(416) 862-6590
chorner@osler.com
Vice-Chair of the fi rm, Mr.
Horner counsels senior man-
agement and boards of direc-
tors on M&A matters. He
has acted as principal counsel
on many of Canada's most
noteworthy transactions.
for survival to the smaller explorers and
producers in the oil and gas sector as well
as the companies that service them. Many
have been le unexpectedly vulnerable with
US$100/barrel oil stripped away.
"In Canada people have been saying the
sky is falling in the mining sector for the last
fi ve years," says Gordon Chambers of Cas-
sels Brock & Blackwell LLP in Vancouver,
but "it's been more like fi ve months in the
oil and gas space. ! ey're earlier in the cycle,
but it's going to happen. I think the oil and
gas space is the one to watch."
You might think the speed of the col-
lapse in oil prices would spark a quick fl urry
of distress-driven deals, but it didn't. Low
prices, it turns out, put buyers and sellers
sharply at odds over valuation and just how
much a company and its reserves were actu-
ally worth.
John Cuthbertson, an energy practitio-
ner at Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP
in Calgary, calls it "deal paralysis.
"It's due to an expectation gap. One side
OIL IS
THE NEW
MINING
EXECUTIVES IN CANADA'S oil patch, who
have long looked to the lessons learned from
Dome Petroleum in the 1980s, are consider-
ing a diff erent source for guidance these days:
Charles Darwin.
! ousands of the country's junior miners
have been locked in a life-or-death struggle for
survival for years. But the sharp drop in oil pric-
es just before Christmas has expanded the fi ght
ENERGY HAS JOINED MINING IN ITS NEED
FOR CREATIVE DEALMAKING IN A CHALLENGING
ENVIRONMENT BY SANDRA RUBIN
DISTRESS-DRIVEN DEALS
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