925 West Georgia St, Suite 1600, Cathedral Pl, Vancouver, BC
Year called to bar: 1992 (BC)
Val is Chair of the firm’s Technology Group and the Social Impact and Sustainable Business Group. Her practice is transactional (M&A, private equity/venture capital and corporate finance) and advisory including corporate governance and advising boards and special committees. Val is a former Managing Partner of the Firm. Val has been lead counsel on several large and mid-market transactions focused on private equity and venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions and private placements, as well as corporate reorganizations, structuring and strategic matters as well as shareholder agreements. She has extensive experience working with emerging and high growth technology companies and founders in their structuring, financings and acquisitions and exits. A significant portion of Val’s practice is advising private equity and venture fund sponsors in fund formations and structuring, as well as acting for funds in their investment transactions in a variety of industry areas including technology, real estate and food and beverage. Val was named to the Women’s Executive Network’s Top 100 in Canada in 2018, Best Lawyers 'Lawyer of the Year' for Corporate Law (Van) in 2022, and Business in Vancouver BC500 List (2021–23), 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.
