Year called to bar: 1978 (BC); 2014 (ON); 2014 (AB)
Senior partner Hector MacKay-Dunn, KC, has 30+ years of experience providing advice to high-growth public and private companies and public institutions, over a broad range of industry sectors including early and advanced stage life sciences, technology, health, exploration and development mining companies, cleantech and large-scale long-term infrastructure services projects, advising on corporate domestic and cross-border public and private securities offerings, M&A, international partnering & licensing transactions, and to boards of directors and independent board committees on corporate governance matters. Hector is recognized in the Lexpert Special Editions — Finance and M&A, Technology and Health Sciences, and Mining; in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2024; and in Chambers Canada 2024. Hector received the 2014 Life Sciences Milton Wong Leadership Award, King’s Counsel (BC) designation in 2003, and AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell. Hector has served as board member with a number of private and public companies and the board of the BC Tech Association, Chair of the BC Innovation Council and Genome BC and the board of Tennis Canada. Admitted to the BC, Alberta, and Ontario Bars.
To every cloud there is a silver lining, and several sectors of the economy have been thriving during the pandemic — especially those related to the pandemic
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).
Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation completed an offering of 7,500,000 common shares at a price of US$20.25 per share for gross proceeds of approximately US$151.9 million.
Intrexon Corporation (Intrexon) completed its acquisition of Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. (OSF) by way of statutory plan of arrangement pursuant to which a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon acquired all the securities of OSF for US$41 million. OSF shareholders received US$31 million in Intrexon common stock and US$10 million in upfront cash, subject to certain escrow hold-back.
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.
On August 15, 2003, QLT Inc., a global bio-pharmaceutical and photodynamic therapy company, completed the issuance of US$172.5 million aggregate principal amount of 3 per cent convertible senior notes due in 2023. The notes are convertible into QLT common shares under certain circumstances at an initial conversion price of approximately US$17.80 per share.
