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. Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc., a unit of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and Oxford Properties Group were the landlords/managers of these 11 locations. In January 2015, Target announced that it was seeking buyers for its real estate portfolio. By order dated March 5, 2015, the Ontario CCAA Court approved the transaction whereby the leases in respect of these 11 locations were surrendered to Ivanhoé Cambridge and Oxford Properties Group for their termination, resulting in these 11 locations being removed from the real property portfolio sales process.
Ivanhoé Cambridge was represented in-house by a team led by Claude Gendron, Lorna Telfer and Emilio Elisio. Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP acted for Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. with a team led by Aubrey Kauffman and Luc Morin (insolvency and restructuring) and Nicolas Leblanc and Dan Law, in collaboration with Paul King, Denis Paquin, Mariella Lo Papa, Sergio Custodio, David Martin and Sebastien Marcoux (real estate) and Jean François Perreault, Paul Cabana, Paul Casuccio, Clarke Barnes and Frank Schober (tax).
Oxford Properties Group was represented in-house by a team led by Bob Aziz, Kieran Mulroy and Celia Hitch. Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP represented Oxford Properties Group, led by D.J. Miller (insolvency and restructuring). The Fasken Martineau team also represented Oxford Properties Group on the real estate and tax components of the transaction.
Target was represented in-house by Mark Wong and by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP with a team led by Adrian Hartog, Sandy Yeung, Matthew Ritchie and Kasey Ji (real estate); Tracy Sandler, Andrea Lockhart and Josh Hurwitz (insolvency and restructuring); Jeremy Dacks, Shawn Irving and Robert Carson (litigation); and Monica Biringer and D’Arcy Schieman (tax). Target Corp., the US parent of Target, was represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a team led by Jay Swartz and Robin Schwill (insolvency and restructuring) and Luis Sarabia and Dina Milivojevic (litigation).
The Court-appointed Monitor, Alvarez & Marsal Canada, was represented by Goodmans LLP with a team comprising Jay Carfagnini, Melaney Wagner and Jesse Mighton (insolvency and restructuring); Ken Herlin and Tyler D’Angelo (real estate) and Alan Mark (litigation).