333 Bay St, Suite 3400, Bay Adelaide Ctr, W Twr, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1988 (ON)
Partner in a business law group, communications group, and Competition and Foreign Investment Group at Goodmans LLP. Practice focuses on federal regulatory matters, including communications, copyright, competition, and foreign investment law, in both transactions and litigation. Assists financial and strategic investors—both domestic and foreign—in completing mergers and acquisitions, advises and represents telecommunications and media companies in navigating Canada’s regulatory framework and before tribunals (e.g., the CRTC, Copyright Board of Canada, and Competition Tribunal), and advocates on behalf of targets of government-initiated investigations and proceedings brought by the Competition Bureau. Also appears before the courts on reviews of, and appeals from, decisions of these bodies. Recognized as a leading lawyer in the areas of telecommunications by Chambers Global, Chambers Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, the Lexpert Special Edition — Technology and Health Sciences and Best Lawyers in Canada. Past Chair of the Canada Bar Association’s Competition Section’s Unilateral Practices Committee. Writes and speaks frequently on competition law, administrative law, communications regulation and copyright law.
On September 28, 2018, Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited (“CCCBL”), a joint venture established between prominent businessman and philanthropist, Larry Tanenbaum O.C., and Junior Bridgeman, a former NBA player, renowned entrepreneur and owner of Kansas City-based Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company, completed its previously announced acquisition of Coca-Cola Refreshments Canada Company (“CCRC”) from Coca-Cola Refreshments USA, Inc., a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO).
Blackstone Property Partners and Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc., a subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, completed their all-cash acquisition of Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust (PIRET) for $8.10 per unit in a transaction valued at $3.8 billion including debt. Affiliates of Blackstone Property Partners and Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. acquired 62% and 38% of PIRET, respectively.
Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”) acquired all of the outstanding shares of Toronto-based DH Corp. (TSX: DH) (“D+H”), a leading provider of technology solutions to financial institutions globally, by way of a plan of arrangement for $25.50 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $4.8 billion, including the assumption of D+H’s debt.
Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: MST.UN) (“Milestone” or “the REIT”) completed its going private transaction whereby an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group (“Starwood”) acquired all of Milestone’s subsidiaries and assets for approximately US$2.9 billion.
Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Sunovion”) completed the acquisition of Cynapsus Therapeutics Inc. (“Cynapsus”) by way of plan of arrangement for approximately $841 million. The acquisition is aligned with Sunovion’s global strategy to expand and diversify its portfolio in key therapeutic areas, including neurology.
OMERS Private Equity (OPE), the private equity arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, completed the sale of its portfolio company, Give & Go Prepared Foods Corp. (Give & Go), to an affiliate of US private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (THL).
Cott Corporation completed its acquisition of AquaTerra Corporation (AquaTerra), a portfolio company of Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc. (Birch Hill), for approximately $62 million. The acquisition was funded using cash on hand and borrowings under Cott’s asset based lending facility.
On October 28, 2015, Match.com Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of The Match Group, completed its previously-announced acquisition of Canadian online dating service Plentyoffish Media Inc. (POF) for US$575 million in cash. The Match Group, which already owns Match.com, OkCupid and Tinder and has filed its IPO on the NASDAQ, now adds POF, the largest free online dating site in the world, to its portfolio. Match is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US media and internet giant IAC/InterActiveCorp.
On July 2, 2015, Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless Inc., operating as “Mobilicity”, was acquired by an affiliate of Rogers Communications Inc. in a transaction valued at $465 million. Mobilicity, a Canadian wireless telecommunications carrier, commenced creditor protection proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in September 2013. The transaction offered significant value to Mobilicity’s creditors and allowed Mobilicity to emerge from creditor protection as a going concern. The transaction ensures certainty of service for Mobilicity customers on the Rogers network and also results in Rogers gaining significant spectrum capacity in new markets which provides faster speeds and better quality for all Rogers customers. The transaction was subject to government and court approvals and was completed on July 2, 2015.
Postmedia Network Inc. (Postmedia) completed the acquisition of Sun Media Corporation’s (Sun Media) English language newspapers and speciality publications, as well as digital properties including the Sun chain of dailies, consisting of The Toronto Sun, The Ottawa Sun, The Winnipeg Sun, The Calgary Sun and The Edmonton Sun, as well as The London Free Press and the free 24 Hours dailies in Toronto and Vancouver, from Quebecor Media Inc. (the Sun Media Acquisition).
