333 Bay St, Suite 3400, Bay Adelaide Ctr, W Twr, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 1992 (ON)
Partner and co-head of Goodmans’ Real Estate Group. Plays a leading role in large acquisition, financing, development, restructuring, and securitization transactions. Extensive experience in seniors housing, commercial leasing, clean energy land development and telecommunications financing. Significant transactional experience includes assisting Harrison Street on various real estate acquisitions in Canada; the Province of Ontario in connection with Stelco Inc.’s restructuring; Revera Inc. in its joint venture with Axium Infrastructure; Revera Inc. and Welltower Inc.’s US$1.35 billion joint venture of 47 Canadian retirement residences; Atlantic Power’s US$810 million senior secured credit facilities; Brookfield’s acquisition and disposition of Enwave Energy Corporation; and Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited in its $771 million acquisition of the Forzani Group. Recognized as a leading lawyer in real estate by Best Lawyers in Canada, The Legal 500 Canada, and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory. Featured in the Lexpert Special Editions — Energy and Infrastructure. Has published a number of articles and has lectured at the Annual Seniors Housing Forum, LSO, and the Ontario Solar Summit and Expo. Contributor to The Canadian REIT Handbook, published by REALpac.
On January 30, 2018, Refresco Group N.V. (Euronext:RFRG) completed its US$1.25-billion cash acquisition of Cott Corp.’s (NYSE:COT; TSX:BCB) bottling activities (Cott Beverages). The transaction was announced in July 2017.
On June 30, 2017, Stelco Inc. (Stelco), formerly U.S. Steel Canada Inc., emerged from Companies’ Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA) proceedings through the implementation of a CCAA plan. This involved the compromise of more than $2 billion of debt and the restructuring of approximately $2 billion of pension and benefit obligations.
Mettrum Health Corp. (Mettrum) completed the sale of all of its issued and outstanding shares to Canopy Growth Corporation (Canopy) by plan of arrangement, whereby Mettrum shareholders received 0.7132 common shares of Canopy for each Mettrum common share held, representing consideration of $8.42 per common share and a total transaction value of approximately $430 million, based on the respective closing prices prior to announcement of the transaction.
APLP Holdings Limited Partnership (APLP Holdings), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Atlantic Power Corporation (the Company) entered into new senior secured credit facilities, comprising $700 million in aggregate principal amount of senior secured term loan facilities and $200 million in aggregate principal amount of senior secured revolving credit facilities (collectively, the new credit facilities).
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.
Cline Mining Corporation (Cline), a publicly-traded Toronto-based mining and resources company, completed a recapitalization and refinancing transaction, which included the conversion of $110 million of secured debt into new common shares representing 100 per cent of the equity in Cline, the issuance of $55 million of new secured debt and the settlement of significant class action claims under The US Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (US Warn Act).
Revera Inc. and Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN) have completed a transaction resulting in shared ownership of an additional 23 Canadian seniors living residences previously owned by Revera. As a result of the transaction, Health Care REIT owns a 75 per cent interest in the approximately US$634 million portfolio and Revera owns the remaining 25 per cent in Manitoba. Revera continues to manage these residences, earning fees through an incentive-based management contract. The 23 seniors living residences comprising the portfolio have approximately 2,900 suites and are located primarily in major Canadian markets in Ontario, Alberta. The HCN-Revera joint venture now owns a total of 70 seniors living residences across Canada with an aggregate 7,900 suites
HealthLease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (HealthLease) was acquired by Health Care REIT, Inc. (HCN) for $14.20 (US$13.01) per unit in cash, representing an aggregate transaction value of approximately $1 billion (US$950 million). HealthLease's portfolio consisted of 53 properties (14 in two Canadian provinces and 39 in eight US states) of seniors housing, post-acute care and long-term care facilities.
