Cameron, Gordon K.
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(613) 788-2222
gord.cameron@blakes.com
Mr. Cameron practises
administrative and commer-
cial litigation. In connection
with his administrative law
practice, he appears before
energy regulatory tribunals
such as the National Energy
Board and the Ontario
Energy Board.
Carson, Lorne W.
Osler, Hoskin
& Harcourt LLP
(403) 260-7083
lcarson@osler.com
Mr. Carson, also an engin-
eer, focuses on domestic
and international project
development and finance
in the oil and gas, electrical
power and other infrastruc-
ture sectors. His experience
embraces multi-party
and joint ventures.
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.
Carpenter, Sandy
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(403) 260-9768
sandy.carpenter@blakes.com
With a long track record of
success, Sandy is widely re-
garded as one of the leading
energy project development,
Aboriginal and regulatory
lawyers in Canada.
Chamberlain, Adam
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
(416) 367-6172
achamberlain@blg.com
Mr. Chamberlain's practice
focuses on environmental,
Aboriginal and regulatory
requirements for infrastruc-
ture and other projects. He
leads BLG's Aboriginal and
Team North Groups, and has
leadership roles in the Climate
Change and Forestry Groups.
Christopher, Chris
Blake, Cassels
& Graydon LLP
(403) 260-9662
chris.christopher@blakes.com
Mr. Christopher's practice
includes negotiating & dra-
ing downstream, midstream
& upstream operational,
commercial and purchase
and sale agreements. Advises
on the development of oil
sands, cogeneration, wind
power projects, LNG
and infrastructure.
10
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PRIVATE EQUITY
LEXPERT
®
RANKED LAWYERS
consolidations. But lawyers agree it would
be wrong to assume PEs are simply rushing
in to acquire assets at fire-sale prices.
"ey're investing in expert manage-
ment teams," Ross says. "is type of capital
isn't available to everyone. Only those with
outstanding track records and meaningful
business plans are going to attract PE fund-
ing," he says.
It's the local management teams that de-
velop the exploration plays — and scope
out potential acquisition targets. PE inves-
tors supply the money and install board
members who are experts in assessing po-
tential acquisitions and structuring deals
that pass the investment test.
Bennett Jones's Peterson says accepting
PE money typically means giving the new
investors a majority of board positions
and fledgling oil companies need experi-
enced CEOs to manage expectations. "A
PE might give you a fair bit of money but
they're in your face and they've got control."
Still, he says, many managers of small com-
panies and start-ups prefer this prospect to
the vicissitudes of public markets.
Alicia Quesnel, of Calgary-based Burnet,
Duckworth & Palmer LLP (BDP), says
the uncertainty created by low prices has
slowed all deal making — but if oil prices
stay low that's likely to change. Quesnel says
banks have held off calling loans of troubled
companies while they wait to see whether
private equity will step in to recapitalize
companies or buy assets. She says she ex-
pects PEs to play that role because, "Who
doesn't like a sale?"
BDP's Kelsey Clark says the pace of
deals will quicken when there's a consen-
sus that prices have bottomed out. At that
point, PEs are likely to provide substantial
amounts of capital for consolidations.
Most lawyers agree the PEs tend to have a
long-term view that prices will recover, add-
ing potential upside to their investments.
But they say PE timing is as much about a
dearth of competing investors as a bet on
commodity prices rebounding, and the key
to private-equity commitment is a percep-
tion of management talent.
"When (PEs) hear about assets in dis-
tress, that may all be quite interesting, but
without the right management team it
means very little," says Bennett Jones's Mer-
cury. "ese investors will put $300 to $400
million behind a management team with
no assets."
As examples of PE funding based on
management track records, Mercury cites
PTW Energy Services, led by Don Bas-
net; and CanEra Inc., led by Paul Charron.
US-based private-equity firms Metalmark
Capital and NCA Partners announced a
deal in April 2014 to fund the merger of
SOEs made multi-billion-dollar invest-
ments in Calgary producers until Ottawa
banned them from buying controlling in-
terests in oil sands companies aer Decem-
ber of 2012 as a matter of national security.
e federal government said it would be
wary of controlling acquisitions of a leading
Canadian company in any industry by an
SOE, and that this policy would extend to
any individual or entity deemed to be influ-
enced by a foreign government.
More recently, the formation and con-
solidation of oil companies has been further
slowed by lower commodity prices that
have constricted the flow of conventional
debt and equity to the sector, Ross says.
"With low prices, you've got a less robust
mergers-and-acquisitions environment,"
Ross says. "Larger companies want to hold
onto their cash and they can afford to wait
for the gap to narrow between bid and ask
prices. ey aren't rushing out to buy more
things that they then have to spend more
money on."
In the mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
hiatus, lawyers say, there's room for pa-
tient money prepared to wait out the price
slump. With their five- to seven-year time
horizons and a propensity for investing
in tranches of $100 million to $500 mil-
lion, private equity (PE) funds are capable
of funding start-ups, recapitalizations and
