925 West Georgia St, Suite 1600, Cathedral Pl, Vancouver, BC
Year called to bar: 1992 (BC)
Valerie is an M&A, private equity/venture fund and corporate partner and Chair of the firm's Technology Group and the Social Impact and Sustainable Business Group. Her practice is transactional and advisory. She acts for public and private companies, private equity firms and institutional investors. She has been involved in transactions for private and public companies including M&A, financing, and corporate reorganizations as well as strategic alliances and joint ventures. She has experience in private equity and venture fund formations. Val has been lead counsel multiple large mid-market transactions including in the resource/commodities, real property, and manufacturing sectors, in addition to acquisition activity in the tech sector. In 2017, Val obtained her ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Rotman School of Management. The Best Lawyers in Canada recognizes Val for Corporate, M&A, and Technology Law. She was named to the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 in Canada in 2018, was named the 2022 Lawyer of the Year for Corporate Law in Vancouver by Best Lawyers, and named by Business in Vancouver to their BC500 List (2021–23) of the most influential business leaders for Commercial Law and won their Influential Women in Business award in 2021.
On July 26, 2018, Teck Resources Ltd. (Teck) completed the sale of its remaining two-thirds interest in the Waneta Hydroelectric Generating Facility to BC Hydro (BC Hydro) for $1.2B.
On April 12, 2018, Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Arbutus), an industry-leading hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapeutic solutions company, and Roivant Sciences Ltd. (Roivant) announced that they have entered into an agreement to launch Genevant Sciences (Genevant), a jointly-owned company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of a broad range of RNA-based therapeutics. Under the terms of the agreement, Roivant will contribute US$37.5 million in transaction-related seed capital for Genevant.
On January 12, 2018, Arbutus Biopharma Corp. (Arbutus) closed on a transaction involving the issue and sale of 664,000 series A participating convertible preferred shares of Arbutus (Preferred Shares) to Roivant Sciences Ltd. (Roivant) for gross proceeds to Arbutus of US$66.4 million (Tranche 2).
On July 12, 2016, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (Ritchie Bros.), the world’s largest industrial auctioneer and leading equipment distributor, acquired the remaining 49-per-cent interest that it did not already own in Ritchie Bros. Financial Services Ltd. (RBFS) from a minority shareholder group.
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation (“Tekmira”) completed a merger of equals with OnCore Biopharma, Inc. (“OnCore”) whereby OnCore merged with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tekmira. As a result of the merger, stockholders of OnCore hold approximately fifty per cent (50%) of the total number of outstanding shares of capital stock of Tekmira. The implied market value of the combined company, based on the closing price of Tekmira common shares on the NASDAQ Global Market on January 9, 2015, was approximately USD$750 million and at time of closing USD$964 million.
