100 King St W, Suite 6200, 1 First Cdn Pl, PO Box 50, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1986 (ON)
Firoz specializes in the taxation of mergers & acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, debt restructurings, partnership arrangements and international taxation. He has written articles and presented papers on a number of income tax subjects for the International Tax Review, Journal of International Taxation, Canadian Tax Journal, and the Tax Executives Institute. Firoz has been seconded to the Rulings Directorate of Revenue Canada, Taxation as a senior rulings officer in the corporate reorganizations section.
On December 10, 2019, affiliates of real estate funds managed by The Blackstone Group Inc. (collectively, Blackstone) acquired all of the subsidiaries and assets of Dream Global Real Estate Investment Trust (Dream Global)
Morgan Stanley completed the acquisition of Solium Capital Inc., a leading global provider of software-as-a-service for equity administration, financial reporting and compliance, headquartered in Calgary, for $1.1 billion.
On November 30, 2018, Essar Steel Algoma Inc. (“ESAI”) concluded its comprehensive restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act by way of the sale of substantially all of its assets to Algoma Steel Inc. (“ASI”).
Concordia International Corp. (“Concordia” or the “Company”) (TSX: CXR), an international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on becoming a leader in European specialty, off-patent medicines, completed the recapitalization of approximately US$4 billion of secured and unsecured debt in September 2018 pursuant to a plan of arrangement (the “CBCA Plan”) under the Canada Business Corporations Act (“CBCA”).
On August 10, 2018, South32 Ltd. (South32) acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Arizona Mining Inc. (Arizona Mining) not already owned by South32 or its affiliates for cash consideration of $6.20 per share by way of a statutory plan of arrangement pursuant to the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia).
On July 19, 2017, Hydro One Limited (Hydro One) announced that it had entered into an agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which it has agreed to indirectly acquire Avista Corporation (Avista), a pure-play regulated electric and gas utilities holding company, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately US$5.3 billion including the assumption of approximately US$1.9 billion of debt. On July 19, 2017, Hydro One subsequently announced that its direct wholly owned subsidiary, 2587264 Ontario Inc., had agreed to sell to a syndicate of underwriters $1.4-billion aggregate principal amount of 4.00-per-cent convertible unsecured subordinated debentures of Hydro One (the Debentures) represented by instalment receipts on a “bought deal” basis.
On October 5, 2016, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (PNCC) (TSX:PNC.A, PNC.B) and Postmedia Network Inc.’s (“PNI” and together with PNCC, the “Company” or “Postmedia”) completed a recapitalization transaction.
On December 14, 2016, Tervita Corporation (“Tervita”), a leading environmental solutions provider, implemented its court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act (the “Plan”).
On October 17, 2016, Vail Resorts, Inc. completed its $1.4-billion acquisition of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. by way of plan of arrangement for cash and share consideration.
On April 1, 2016, Corus Entertainment Inc. acquired the business of Shaw Media Inc. from Shaw Communications Inc. This acquisition more than doubled Corus’ size, creating a combined portfolio of brands that encompass 45 specialty television services, including leading women and lifestyle, kids, family and general entertainment brands; 15 conventional television channels; 39 radio stations; a global content business; book publishing; and a growing portfolio of digital assets.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (Valeant) acquired Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (Salix) for US$173.00 per share in cash, or a total enterprise value of approximately US$15.8 billion. The transaction closed on April 1, 2015. To partially finance the acquisition, Valeant completed equity and bond offerings, which closed on March 27, 2015. In its equity offer, Valeant issued 7,286,482 shares at a price of US$199.00 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately US$1.45 billion.
