$32B Restructuring of Canadian Third-Party Structured ABCP

The restructuring of some $32 billion of Canadian third-party structured asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) was completed on January 21, 2009. The restructuring stemmed from events in mid-August 2007 when credit fears led to the inability of many third-party ABCP issuers to issue new notes to pay out maturing notes. On March 17, 2008, the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee (the Investors Committee) of major Canadian investors, representing more than $20 billion of the affected ABCP, successfully brought the majority of Canada's non-bank ABCP issuers under the protection of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (the CCAA). On April 25, 2008, 96 per cent of ABCP noteholders voted in favour of the proposed restructuring plan and on June 5, 2008, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the plan, which became the largest court-supervised debt restructuring in Canadian history and what is believed to be the world's largest private-market restructuring response to the world-wide credit crunch. On June 25, 2008, certain dissident holders appealed the plan's approval to the Ontario Court of Appeal on the basis that releases of solvent third parties (primarily the dealers that had sold the ABCP) were not appropriate. The Court of Appeal affirmed the lower court's decision to approve the plan in a unanimous decision issued on August 18, 2008.

An application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was brought on September 8, 2008 by a number of applicants led by Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. claiming that the breadth of the legal releases to banks, brokers, rating agencies and others raised issues of national importance that should be resolved by the nation's highest court. The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the application for leave to appeal on September 19, 2008. Intense negotiations continued and the Ontario Superior Court granted a number of sequential extensions to the stay period under the plan. To address deteriorating conditions in the credit markets, a further agreement was reached on December 24, 2008 with all key stakeholders, including the governments of Canada, Québec, Ontario and Alberta, which had been approached to provide additional support to the restructuring. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement reached, the governments and certain members of the Investors Committee agreed to provide, in the aggregate, $4.45 billion of additional margin facilities under the plan. The Ontario Superior Court approved the implementation of the plan on January 12, 2009 and the closing and implementation of the plan took place on January 21, 2009.

Goodmans LLP represented the Investors Committee for Third-Party Structured Asset-Backed Commercial Paper chaired by Purdy Crawford. The Goodmans team was led by Stephen Halperin and Francesca Guolo and included: Francesca Guolo, Lisa Mantello, Lee Waxberg and Mark Haber (structured finance - synthetic securitization and derivatives); Shevaun McGrath, Scott MacIntosh, Pollyanna Lord, Grant Coad, Kevin Wilson, Brenda Gosselin and Keir Hunt (structured finance - traditional securitization); Stephen Halperin, Kari MacKay, Meredith Roth, Paolo Berard, Krista Coburn, Gail Jaffe, Meenu Khindri Patel, Gary Diamond, Chat Ortved and Linda Wu (corporate/securities); James Riley, Mark Surchin, Michael Bertrand, Vanessa Yeung and Leah Ramkaran (banking); Gale Rubenstein, Brian Empey, Brendan O'Neill, Candy Schaffel, Derek Bulas and Lauren Cappell (restructuring); Benjamin Zarnett and Fred Myers (litigation); Glenn Ernst, Neil Harris and Mitchell Sherman (tax); and Susan Zimmerman, Carolyn Stamegna, William Alcamo and Jaclyn Seidman (research and opinions).

Stikeman Elliott LLP represented the group of seven foreign bank asset providers and certain of their affiliates – Bank of America, N.A., Citibank Canada, Citibank, N.A., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Bank Canada, HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Merrill Lynch International, Merrill Lynch Capital Services, Inc., Swiss Re Financial Products Corporation and UBS AG. The Stikeman Elliott team was led by William A. Scott and Peter F.C. Howard and included: James Davis, Kathleen Ward, Philip Henderson, Michael Rumball, Abas Kanu, Kevin O'Brien, Michael Carman, D'Arcy Nordick, Margaret Grottenthaler, Jason Kroft, Mark McElheran, Sterling Dietze, Anna Romano, Carl Calandra, Erica Zarkovich, Helve Hess, Greg Herget, Anna Stewart, Tanya Padberg, Jeff Hershenfield, Jonathan Moncrieff, Sarah Horan, Douglas Bryce, Aaron Fransen, Kevin Smyth, Amanda Willett, Alwin Kong and Andrew Bozzato (structured finance, securitization, banking and securities); Sean Dunphy, Samaneh Hosseini and Eliot Kolers (litigation); and Kevin Kelly, Jonathan Willson and Marc-André Wilson (tax).

McCarthy Tétrault LLP represented BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank and TD, under the direction of the following counsel from the five banks: Keith Perrett (BMO), Robert Richardson (CIBC), Emily Jelich (RBC), Deborah Alexander and Kenneth Thorlakson (Scotiabank) and Adriana Groskopf (TD), with a McCarthy Tétrault team that included Barry Ryan, Gordon Baird, Candace Pallone, Justin Lapedus, Lynn Parsons, Ana Badour and Daniel Bornstein (financial services); Kevin McElcheran and Heather Meredith (bankruptcy & restructuring) and Geoff Hall (litigation).

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP represented Ernst & Young Inc., the court-appointed monitor in the CCAA proceedings. The BLG team was led by Marc Duchesne and Claudine Millette and included: Marc Duchesne, Craig Hill and Sam Rappos (restructuring and litigation); Joanne Foot, Pierre Côté, Sylvie Bouvette, Claudine Millette, Vincent Frenette, Élise Renaud, Béatrice Couture, Gus Karantzoulis, Shane Pearlman, Shaunik Katyal, Habeeb Syed, Vanessa McMinn, Tiffany Murray, François Brais, Benoît Provost, Patricia Galella and Tammy Shulman (structured finance, securitization, banking and securities) and François Morin (tax).

Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, with teams from Montréal and Toronto, represented Investors Committee Member, Desjardins Group, one of the applicants in the CCAA proceeding: in Montréal, Yvon Martineau, Chloé Archambault, Marc Novello and Peter Villani; and in Toronto, David Baird, Edmond Lamek and Samuel Rickett.

One of the Original Issuer Trustees (Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments Corp.), five of the seven respondents in the CCAA proceeding (Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments II Corp., Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments III Corp., Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments V Corp., Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments XI Corp. and Metcalfe & Mansfield Alternative Investments XII Corp.) and one of the seven sponsors, Quanto Financial Corporation, in the CCAA proceeding were represented by: Xeno Martis, Robert Girard, Gilles Carli, Donald Milner, David Lemieux, Francis Trifiro, Félix Gutierrez, Jean Michel Lapierre, Graham Phoenix and Jean-Pierre Chamberland.

The remaining Original Issuer Trustees (BNY Trust Company of Canada, Computershare Trust Company of Canada and Montreal Trust Company of Canada) and the remaining two respondents (4446372 Canada Inc. and 6932819 Canada Inc.) in the CCAA proceeding were represented by: Alfred Apps, Lisa Marcuzzi, Jonathan Levin, Jeff Hergott and Adam Inglis (corporate/commercial); Aubrey Kauffman, Stuart Brotman, Ronald Robertson and John Campion (restructuring/litigation); Howard Carr (trusts); Mitchell Thaw (tax); Robin Roddey and Edward Purdy (research) and Robert Elliott (regulatory).

Computershare Trust Company of Canada, the New Issuer Trustee of the restructured ABCP issuers, Master Asset Vehicle I, Master Asset Vehicle II and Master Asset Vehicle III, on the implementation of the CCAA plan, was represented by: Lisa Marcuzzi, Adam Inglis, Daniel Fuke and Daniel Batista (corporate/commercial); Howard Carr (trusts); Brian Wright and Jon Holmstrom (lending); Mitchell Thaw (tax); Robert Elliott (regulatory) and Robin Roddey (research).

BNY Trust Company of Canada, the New Indenture Trustee and New Collateral Agent, on the implementation of the CCAA plan was represented by: Alfred Apps, Krisztián Tóth, Gregory Ho Yuen, Lisa Marcuzzi, Jeff Hergott and Amanda Fullerton (corporate/commercial); and The New Accounting Agent, The Bank of New York Mellon, on the implementation of the CCAA Plan was represented by: Lisa Marcuzzi, Bozidar Crnatovic, Krisztián Tóth and Gregory Ho Yuen (corporate/commercial).

McMillan LLP represented the Government of Canada with a team that included Robert Scavone (banking and securitization) and Shahen Mirakian (structured finance); the Bank of Nova Scotia with a team that included Andrew Kent, Adam Maerov, Reema Kapoor and Tushara Weerasooriya (restructuring); Markus Koehnen and Daniel V. MacDonald (litigation) and Margaret C. McNee and Shahen Mirakian (structured finance); and HSBC Bank Canada and HSBC Bank USA, N.A. with a team that included Don Waters, Robert Scavone and David Hudson (banking and securitization); Jeffrey Gollob (restructuring); Hilary Clarke and Paul Macdonald (litigation) and Neil Campbell (competition).

Ogilvy Renault LLP represented Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Investors Committee member and the Province of Québec with a team led by Jean-Pierre Colpron (for all matters related to Caisse) and Paul Raymond (for all matters related to the province) and including Merie-Anne Beavis, Robert G. Borduas, Andrew Fleming, Michèle Friel, Ciprian Gligor, Alana Hunt, Mary E. Kelly, Martha L. McKinnon, Aditya Rebbapragada, Alain Ricard, Martin Thériault, Nicole C. Sigouin, Andrew Welsh and Peter J. Wiazowski (banking and structured finance); Mario J. Forte, Virginie Gauthier, Louis J. Gouin, Ian A. Ness and Derrick C. Tay (insolvency and restructuring); Andrew Bleau, Thierry Dorval, Paul Feuer, Heidi Reinhart, Eric Reither and Patrick M. Shea (corporate/securities); Adrienne F. Oliver and Barry N. Segal (tax); and Dominic Dupoy, Karen Galpern, James Johnson and Ruth I. Wahl (research).

Torys LLP represented National Bank Financial Inc. and National Bank of Canada and the Investors Committee members with a team that included Michael Feldman, Christopher Fowles, John Laskin, Scott Bomhof, Scott Kraag, Linda Plumpton, Andrew Gray, Jim Hong, Michael Rotsztain and Victoria Blond.

Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP represented Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Investors Committee member with a team that included Stephen Ashbourne and Aaron Palmer (commercial/structured finance); Sam Principi and Ric McIvor (banking); Bruno Arnould (corporate); Susan Grundy and Katherine McEachern (restructuring) and Paul Tamaki (tax).

Lang Michener LLP acted as local counsel for ATB Financial, Investors Committee member, with a team that included David Thring, chair, banking & project finance group, and Sheryl Seigel, chair, business restructuring & insolvency group.

The Lang Michener Supreme Court Practice Group acted as SCC agents in the ABCP proceedings at the Supreme Court. Lang Michener represented respondent-side counsel who supported the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee plan and who opposed the dissenting creditors led by Jean Coutu Group (PJC), et al. Jeffrey Beedell, partner, Supreme Court Advocacy Group, was Ottawa agent for Benjamin Zarnett and Fred Myers of Goodmans LLP, counsel for the Respondent Investors Represented on the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee for Third-Party Structured Asset-Backed Commercial Paper. Marie-France Major, partner, Supreme Court Advocacy Group, was Ottawa agent for Arthur Jacques of Shibley Righton LLP, counsel for the Respondent Ad Hoc Committee of Retail Noteholders and for Jeffrey Leon of Bennett Jones LLP, counsel for the respondents CIBC Mellon Trust Company, Computershare Trust Company of Canada and BNY Trust Company of Canada.

Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP represented NAV CANADA, member of Investors Committee, with a team that included Toronto lawyers Robin Walker, QC, and Clifton Prophet.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP represented BlackRock, administrator/manager of the restructured ABCP issuers in Canada, with a team that included Randall Pratt, Mark DesLauriers and Blair Wiley (corporate/securities); Peter Milligan, Dale Seymour and Todd Mandel (structured finance); Monica Biringer and Pooja Samtani (tax); and Rupert Chartrand (restructuring). Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP represented BlackRock with a team in the US that included Susan Curtis, Richard Fortunato, Donald Steelman, Kenji Fujimoto and Ben Dickson (structured finance); Paula Greenman (structured finance, synthetic securitization and derivatives); and Kirk Wallace (tax). BlackRock also was advised by internal counsel, Arthur S. Rublin, managing director and senior counsel.

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP represented DBRS Limited, led by DBRS in-house counsel Jamie Feehely, Andrew Fitzpatrick and Debbie Caruso, with a team including Jay Swartz (restructuring); Scott Hyman, Tim Baron, James Rumball, David White, Banu Unal and Joshua Kuretzky (derivatives); James Rumball and Banu Unal (securitization); Michael Disney (opinions); and Ronald Wilson (tax). Davies represented Newshore Capital with a team including Jay Swartz, Scott Hyman, Mindy Gilbert, Natasha MacParland and Joshua Kuretzky (corporate finance & securities) and Ron Wilson (tax). Davies represented Coventree Capital with a team including James Rumball, David White and Banu Unal (securitization and derivatives); Robin Schwill (restructuring) and Ronald Wilson (tax). Davies also represented Holders of Subordinated Notes with a team including James Rumball (securitization) and Robin Schwill (restructuring).

Miller Thomson LLP acted for the ad hoc committee of corporate noteholders and financial advisor, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., with a team that included Jay Hoffman, Jeffrey Carhart, Joseph Marin, Michael Pace and Margaret Sims.

Shibley Righton LLP represented the ad hoc committee of retail investors with a team that included Arthur Jacques and Thomas McRae.

Bennett Jones LLP represented the Indenture Trustees, BNY Trust Company of Canada, CIBC Mellon Trust Company and Computershare Trust Company of Canada with a team that included Bruce C. Barker, Jeffrey S. Leon, S. Richard Orzy, Arthur J. Peltomaa, J. Steven Lutz, Lincoln Caylor, Jim Patterson, Richard B. Swan, Ruth E. Promislow, Ranjan K. Agarwal, P. Derek Frueh, Sarat C. Maharaj and Lisa Millman.

Lawyer(s)

Sterling H. Dietze Gale Rubenstein Tammy Shulman Grant Coad Lisa Mantello Sheryl E. Seigel Martin Thériault Pollyanna Lord Daniel V. MacDonald Jeffrey S. Leon Sarah Bialas Paul Feuer Aubrey E. Kauffman William V. Alcamo Gilles Carli Natasha MacParland Jim Hong Fred Myers Don M.E. Waters Francis Trifiro Benjamin Zarnett Margaret Grottenthaler Jay M. Hoffman Vincent Frenette Barry N. Segal Benoît M. Provost Mark E. McElheran William A. Scott Geoff R. Hall Sean F. Dunphy John B. Laskin Hilary E. Clarke Andrew J.F. Kent Thierry Dorval Robert E. Elliott Vanessa McMinn Mary E. Kelly Aaron Palmer Ana Badour Jason Kroft Bozidar Crnatovic Ciprian Gligor Lincoln Caylor Marc Duchesne Alain Ricard Peter F.C. Howard Shaunik Katyal Patrick M. Shea Reema Kapoor Xeno C. Martis Tushara Weerasooriya Stephen H. Halperin Peter Villani Jeff Hergott Shahen Mirakian Derrick C. Tay Jeffrey C. Carhart Chat Ortved Gordon D. Baird Andrew Bozzato G. Paolo Berard Scott MacIntosh Chloé M. Archambault Kevin Wilson Emily Jelich David M.R. White Derek Bulas Heather Meredith Patricia Galella Jim Patterson Gregory Ho Yuen Blair Wiley Jon J. Holmstrom Arthur J. Peltomaa Edmond F.B. Lamek Kenneth E. Thorlakson Arthur O. Jacques Lauren Cappell Mitchell L. Thaw Aaron Fransen Scott R. Hyman David Hudson Amanda M. Fullerton Edward W. Purdy Todd Mandel Daniel Fuke Robert G. Borduas Jay A. Swartz Robin B. Schwill C. Nicole Sigouin Kari MacKay Stephen R. Ashbourne Brian F. Empey Jean Michel Lapierre Kathleen G. Ward M. Bruno Arnould Samuel R. Rickett Andrew Fleming Ronald N. Robertson Deborah M. Alexander Victoria Blond Douglas P. Bryce Randall W. Pratt Heidi Reinhart S. Richard Orzy Pooja Mihailovich Ian A. Ness Thomas McRae David E. Baird Howard M. Carr Michael Bertrand Greg Herget Brendan O'Neill Daniel Batista Christopher J. Fowles J. Mark DesLauriers Pierre B. Côté Merie-Anne E. Beavis Krisztián Tóth Dominic Dupoy Anna Stewart Bruce C. Barker Adriana G. Groskopf W. Alfred Apps Carolyn P. Stamegna Katherine McEachern J. Steven Lutz Jaclyn Seidman Sam J. Principi Jean-Pierre Chamberland Jeffrey M. Hershenfield Peter E. Milligan Sarat C. Maharaj Béatrice Couture Shane B. Pearlman Gail Jaffe Stuart Brotman Paul Raymond Yvon Martineau Ronald S. Wilson R. Graham Phoenix Michèle Friel Abas Kanu Kevin Smyth Margaret R. Sims Neil H. Harris Mark Haber A. Neil Campbell Martha L. McKinnon Helve Hess Barnett Lisa Millman Andrew D. Gray Mario J. Forte A. Timothy Baron Jonathan M. Moncrieff Paula S. Greenman Adam C. Maerov Jon Levin Kevin P. McElcheran Michael J. Pace Glenn S. Ernst Donald E. Milner Lisa M. Marcuzzi Karen Galpern Linda Wu Eric P. Reither Jean-Pierre Colpron D'Arcy Nordick Markus Koehnen François Brais Tanya Padberg Monica E. Biringer James A. Riley Justin A. Lapedus Scott A. Bomhof Carl Calandra Linda M. Plumpton Sam Rappos Virginie Gauthier Joseph Marin Paul G.F. Macdonald Amanda Willett Michael Disney Banu Ozlem Unal Sylvie Bouvette Mark Surchin Erica L. Zarkovich Robin P. Roddey Leah Boyd Joshua Kuretzky Marc-André Wilson Margaret C. McNee Tiffany Murray Mitchell J. Sherman James G. Rumball Marc Novello Félix Gutierrez Krista Coburn Andrew Bleau François Morin Keir Hunt James C. Davis Claudine Millette Susan M. Grundy Michael B. Rotsztain Robin D. Walker Richard B. Swan Élise Renaud Brenda Gosselin David E. Thring P. Derek Frueh Adam M. Inglis Scott Kraag Brian G. Wright Daniel Bornstein Jonathan W. Willson Robert M. Scavone Francesca M. Guolo Lynn Parsons Ruth I. Wahl Clifton P. Prophet Candace M. Pallone John A. Campion Philip J. Henderson Gus Karantzoulis Dale Seymour Susan C. Zimmerman Paul K. Tamaki Peter J. Wiazowski Habeeb Syed Craig J. Hill Ruth E. Promislow Alwin Kong Samaneh Hosseini Anna C. Romano Eliot N. Kolers Shevaun McGrath Kevin O'Brien Mindy B. Gilbert Joanne E. Foot Andrew Welsh James Matthew Johnson Robert J. Richardson Robert Y. Girard David Lemieux Vanessa M. K. Yeung Adrienne F. Oliver