100 King St W, Suite 3400, 1 First Canadian Pl, PO Box 130, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1991 (ON)
Melanie is the managing principal of Bennett Jones (US) LLP, practising Canadian law in Washington, DC, and Toronto, ON. She is also co-head of the Competition and Foreign Investment practice specializing in global antitrust and competition law and litigation, working closely with Toronto and other offices. Melanie served as Canada’s Competition Commissioner, in charge of the Canadian Competition Bureau from 2009 to 2012. While serving as Commissioner, Melanie led many high-profile civil and criminal matters and worked extensively with leaders of international antitrust authorities globally on enforcement and policy cases, holding leadership roles in key international organizations. Melanie has an active antitrust advisory, trial and commercial practice, representing major Canadian and US companies in significant matters across a broad range of industries. She has been recognized in Chambers Global, GCR Top Women in Antitrust, and Euromoney's Women in Business Law. Melanie has taught as an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall and Queen's Law Schools, is active on the CD Howe Institute's Competition Policy Council, sits on the Advisory Boards of the Global Antitrust Institute and Schulich School of Business and has been appointed as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Kissner Group Holdings LP (“Kissner”) completed its acquisition of NSC Minerals Ltd. (“NSC”), a market-leading provider of salt products in Western Canada and the North Central United States, from an investor group led by Altas Partners.
On July 19, 2018, Tervita Corp. (“Tervita”) and Newalta Corp. (“Newalta”) completed a business combination by way of plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement”), pursuant to which Tervita acquired all of Newalta’s issued and outstanding common shares.
On September 23, 2016, Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) completed its acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT), creating the world’s largest hotel company. The US$13-billion merger combines Marriott brands, including Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard and Residence Inn, with W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton and other Starwood brands.
On June 3, 2015, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited and Hutchison Whampoa Limited completed an $84-billion reorganization, combination of their respective businesses and spin-off to create two new Hong Kong listed companies. CK Hutchison Holdings Limited became the new listed holding company of the Cheung Kong Group in March 2015 and now holds all of the non-property businesses of the Cheung Kong Group and the Hutchison Group. With the completion of the remaining part of the transaction in June 2015, Cheung Kong Property Holdings Limited became the new listed holding company which holds the property businesses of the Cheung Kong Group and the Hutchison Group.
On May 8, 2015, Repsol S.A. of Madrid, Spain completed the acquisition of Talisman Energy Inc. in a deal worth approximately $16.5 billion (US$13.5 billion). The transaction was the largest M&A deal by value announced in Canada in more than two years and the largest international deal by a Spanish company in over five years. The transaction was completed by way of court-approved arrangement under the <i>Canada Business Corporations Act</I> and, upon closing, all of the issued and outstanding common and preferred shares of Talisman were acquired by Repsol for cash consideration. Talisman’s publicly held debt remained outstanding following completion.
On March 31, 2015, Norbord Inc. (Norbord) and Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. (Ainsworth) completed their previously announced merger. The merger will create a leading global wood products company focused on oriented strand board across North America, Europe and Asia.
