333 Bay St, Suite 3400, Bay Adelaide Ctr, W Twr, Toronto, ON
Year called to bar: 2008 (ON)
Partner. Practice focuses on financial restructuring and insolvency, mergers and acquisitions and corporate law. Regularly acts for debtors, lenders, ad hoc committees, court-appointed officers, purchasers and other stakeholders in complex Canadian and cross-border restructurings. Has experience across a wide variety of sectors, including technology, retail, natural resources and commodities, entertainment, construction, cannabis, automotive and pharmaceuticals. Recent mandates include the restructurings of Cirque du Soleil, Harte Gold, Clover Leaf/Bumblebee Seafoods, Skillsoft Corporation, MJardin Group, Nortel, Toys “R” Us, Crystallex, Bondfield Construction, Aralez Pharmaceuticals, and DEL Equipment. Recognized in the areas of financial restructuring and insolvency by Chambers Global, IFLR 1000, The Best Lawyers in Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who’s Who Legal and Expert Guides. Honoured as one of Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40 in 2017. Received the Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving and the St. John Ambulance Lifesaving Award in 2014. Previous lecturer at the University of Western Ontario Law School, where he taught the advanced restructuring course from 2012 to 2020.
On May 31, 2018, an affiliate of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (Fairfax) acquired all of the share capital and business of Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltd. Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltee (Toys Canada) for a purchase price of $300 million subject to certain working capital adjustments. The share transaction, which was completed in connection with Toys Canada’s emergence from restructuring proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (the CCAA) and Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, has enabled Toys Canada to continue as a going concern without compromising creditor claims and preserved Toys Canada’s position as Canada’s leading toy and baby retailer.
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel Canada) is the Canadian parent company of what was one of the largest telecommunications businesses in the world. In early 2009, formal insolvency proceedings were commenced in Canada, the United States and England, among other places. Nortel’s worldwide business was liquidated through a number of Court-approved sales of its business units and a US$4.5-billion sale of its residual patents, resulting in US$7.3 billion of global sale proceeds to be allocated amongst the Nortel debtor companies in Canada, the United States and Europe.
On December 14, 2016, Tervita Corporation (“Tervita”), a leading environmental solutions provider, implemented its court-approved plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act (the “Plan”).
