Denise Nawata is a corporate-commercial partner practising in the fields of corporate finance & securities, cross-border mergers & acquisitions, and corporate governance law. Her practice is focused on complex business transactions, for both public and private companies at various stages of their corporate growth. Denise acts for clients in a wide range of industries, including natural resources (with extensive experience in mining and oil & gas transactions), technology, and life sciences. In 2016, Denise was named as one of the Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40. She is recognized in the 2024 Lexpert Special Editions on Mining, Energy, and Finance and M&A. She is also recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2024, and the 2024 The Best Lawyers in Canada directory for her work in mergers & acquisitions, corporate, and securities law. Admitted to the Alberta Bar (2005) and British Columbia Bar (2006).
On January 12, 2018, Arbutus Biopharma Corp. (Arbutus) closed on a transaction involving the issue and sale of 664,000 series A participating convertible preferred shares of Arbutus (Preferred Shares) to Roivant Sciences Ltd. (Roivant) for gross proceeds to Arbutus of US$66.4 million (Tranche 2).
Intrexon Corporation (Intrexon) completed its acquisition of Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. (OSF) by way of statutory plan of arrangement pursuant to which a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon acquired all the securities of OSF for US$41 million. OSF shareholders received US$31 million in Intrexon common stock and US$10 million in upfront cash, subject to certain escrow hold-back.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (“Tekmira”) completed a merger of equals with OnCore Biopharma, Inc. (“OnCore”) whereby OnCore merged with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tekmira. As a result of the merger, stockholders of OnCore hold approximately fifty per cent (50%) of the total number of outstanding shares of capital stock of Tekmira. The implied market value of the combined company, based on the closing price of Tekmira common shares on the NASDAQ Global Market on January 9, 2015, was approximately USD$750 million and at time of closing USD$964 million.
