333 Bay St, Suite 2400, Bay Adelaide Ctr, Box 20, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1979 (ON)
Aubrey Kauffman’s practice is focused on advocacy matters related to domestic and cross-border bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring proceedings. Aubrey is the 2019 recipient of the Ontario Bar Association Murray Klein Award for Excellence in Insolvency Law. In addition, in 2019, he was named a Fellow of the prestigious Insolvency Institute of Canada after completing his 2nd term as a director. A highly seasoned litigator and advisor, Aubrey has acted in many high-profile insolvency proceedings, advising a variety of stakeholders including court officers, debtors, directors and officers, creditors at all levels of the capital structure and government agencies. Aubrey is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he teaches the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Course.
Specialty Foods Group Income Fund, an Ontario income trust, went public in 2003 at $10 per unit. The establishment of the income fund resulted in a complex cross-border capital structure of the Specialty Food Group of companies that was adopted for tax and other reasons. The capital structure of these companies became even more complex in 2006 when the balance sheets and ownership of certain companies in the group had to be restructured in order to address financial difficulties. That restructuring failed to produce a viable ongoing income fund such that, when the units were ultimately cease-traded in 2009, they were trading at a price of approximately a half cent per unit.
On March 6, 2015, a landlord group led by Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. and Oxford Properties Group completed a transaction involving the termination of leases at 11 properties that had previously been leased by Target Canada Co. (Target), owner and operator of shopping centers, and a unit of Target Corp., for $138 million.
