This section keeps you up-to-date on the latest news and upcoming public appearances of Lavery professionals.
News
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Finance and M&A: Lexpert Recognizes Four Partners as Leading Lawyers in Canada
On April 17, 2024, Lexpert recognized the expertise of four of our partners in its 2024 Lexpert Special Edition: Finance and M&A. Josianne Beaudry, Étienne Brassard, Jean-Sébastien Desroches and Édith Jacques now rank among Canada's leaders in the financial sector and in M&A. Josianne Beaudry’s practice is primarily focused on securities law, investment funds and mining law. She also advises financial sector participants on the application of regulations relating to securities and corporate governance. Josianne assists clients carrying out public and private financings, corporate reorganizations, as well as mergers and acquisitions. She also helps publicly traded companies maintain their reporting issuer status. Étienne Brassard practices business law, more specifically corporate financing, mergers and acquisitions and corporate law. In his practice, he advises local and international businesses in relation to all forms of private financing, from traditional or convertible debt to equity investments. He has thus developed extensive expertise in setting up complex financing structures, in both operational and transactional contexts. Jean-Sébastien Desroches practices business law and focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure, renewable energy and project development as well as strategic partnerships. He has had the opportunity to steer several major transactions, complex legal operations, cross-border transactions, reorganizations, and investments. Édith Jacques is a partner in Montréal's Business law group. She specializes in mergers and acquisitions, commercial law, as well as international law and acts as business and strategic consultant to mid- and large-size companies.
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Lavery involved in the construction of the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge
Following a qualification process, the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable du Québec (MTMD) issued a call for tenders in 2022 for the construction of the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge pursuant to the project delivery method known as design-build-finance (DBF). Since this was a DBF, the financing of this project had to be included in the proposals made by the selected candidates. Lavery represented the successful consortium made up of Dragados Canada Inc., Roxboro Excavation Inc. and Construction Demathieu & Bard Inc. Our role required expertise in the following areas: (a) Governance and corporate law (b) Project financing (banking and securities) (c) Public procurement (d) Construction law (e) Commercial agreements (f) Taxation Lavery represented the consortium from the call for proposals to the financial close, including the drafting phase leading up to the awarding of the contract to the consortium. The financing was the most complex part of this transaction. Under the hybrid approach retained for that project, a major credit facility to be granted by a bank syndicate had to be set up, as well the private placement of two tranches of bonds. This involved adjusting the rights and obligations of creditors on both sides within a sophisticated intercreditor agreement. The financing also required parent company guarantees, including from French and Spanish corporations, which required us to find common ground to accommodate the typical requirements of a North American financing and the specific corporate and commercial features applicable in France and Spain. To meet this challenge, we put together a multidisciplinary team, divided up the work in accordance with our professionals’ diverse expertises, and dedicated a team member exclusively to interactions with the MTMD, its lawyers and the issuers of performance bonds typical for this kind of projects. Sound project management practices were essential to the success of this team effort. It is a privilege for Lavery to have participated in this essential project allowing the people of Quebec to obtain a new bridge linking the regions of Montérégie and Montréal. The Lavery team was led by Josianne Beaudry, Nicolas Gagnon, Édith Jacques, David Tournier and André Vautour, and included Véronik Bonneville-Pesant, Katerina Kostopoulos, Jean-François Maurice, Joseph Gualdieri, Siddhartha Borissov-Beausoleil, Alexandre Turcotte, Luc Pariseau, Charles Hugo Gagné, Mickaël Pageau, Jean-Vincent Prévost-Bérubé and Yohann Lévy.
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Lavery helps to establish an affordable housing fund worth $151 million
On May 4, 2021, the Government of Canada, the Government of Québec, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Ivanhoé Cambridge announced the formation of a consortium of investors that will make $120 million available to co-ops, non-profit organizations (NPOs) and housing agencies for the construction or renovation of affordable housing. The Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, Fondaction, the Mirella and Lino Saputo Foundation and the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation collectively added $31 million to the sum. The strategic partnership will be managed by the Association des groupes de ressources techniques du Québec (AGRTQ) starting in the fall of 2021. Lavery Lawyers advised and assisted the project partners with the drafting and implementation of the legal structure and documentation necessary to create and start up the consortium of investors. Lavery is pleased to have put its expertise and professional and financial resources to work for the project, and to thereby contribute to an initiative that benefits both families and the economic vitality of Quebec. The Lavery team, led by Brigitte Gauthier, was composed of Jean-Sébastien Desroches, Jean-François Maurice, François Renaud, Bernard Trang and André Vautour.
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Étienne Brassard wins the M&A Club's Deal of the Year award
On November 10, the M&A Club of Quebec announced that Étienne Brassard and his team had won the Deal of the Year award in recognition of the strategic role they played in the acquisition of the Molson property by Selection Group. In the video of the award presentation, he highlighted the exceptional work of his team, particularly Bernard Trang and Dolaine Béland as well as Helen Bougas, Vice President, Legal Affairs of Selection Group and her team. The M&A Awards, which were presented virtually this year, are intended to honour the outstanding work of mergers and acquisitions professionals in Quebec and more broadly to recognize the mergers and acquisitions industry and its contribution to the economy. For the second year consecutively, the Lavery team won one of the prestigious M&A awards, following the cross-border transaction of the year in 2019 for the sale of Camso Inc. to Michelin.
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Lavery is representing Walter Innovations Inc. in its acquisition by Golo Mobile Inc.
On July 7, 2020, Golo Mobile Inc., a company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange that specializes in eco-delivery in large business centres, announced the acquisition of Walter Innovations Inc., a building automation technology start-up that has created a solution to connect property managers and residents of condominiums and apartment buildings. A Lavery team composed of Étienne Brassard, Éric Lavallée and Jean-François Maurice represented the selling shareholders of Walter Innovations Inc. in an exit context, allowing Walter's initial investors and entrepreneurs to successfully sell the company and its underlying technology. More concretely, the Lavery team assisted the sellers in negotiating and implementing a transaction structure adapted to their objectives and to the consideration offered by the buyer, i.e. publicly traded shares. Through a holdback of a portion of the shares and an alignment between the duration of the holdback and the obligations of the sellers, our team enabled the seed investors to make a profitable exit and the selling shareholders involved in the direct management of Walter Innovations Inc. to transition as key employees of Golo Mobile Inc. while aligning the interests of the buyer and the sellers in order to achieve a result that is beneficial to all parties.
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Lavery welcomes Eric Stevenson, ex-superintendent, client services and distribution oversight at the AMF to its Business Law group
Lavery is pleased to announce the arrival of a new partner, Eric Stevenson, who is joining the Business Law group at our Québec office. Eric’s leading expertise will increase the quality and depth of Lavery’s consulting and representation service offering, in particular with its financial sector clients and stakeholders. For Eric Stevenson, this represents a return to his roots, given that he worked for the firm prior to joining the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). A professional who has an outstanding reputation and whose leading expertise and keen knowledge are renowned in Québec, Canada and abroad Until just recently, Eric Stevenson was the superintendent, client services and distribution oversight at the AMF.He lead a team of 150 employees with the mandate of overseeing the activities relating to the distribution of financial services and products in Québec all in the while establishing the regulatory framework governing this sector of activities. His role also included issuing exercise rights to insurance and securities operators. Eric was also in charge of the AMF team tasked with evaluating the integrity of companies and their directors who were seeking to conclude agreements with the Québec government and granting the requested authorization, when applicable. Eric Stevenson has represented the AMF before several key organisations in particular by serving as a member of the market intermediaries’ commission of the International Organization of Securities Commissions. He also presided or took part in numerous committees of the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators as well as served on several committees of the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. “Coming back to Lavery was an evident choice considering that the firm benefits from an outstanding reputation and the financial sector’s stakeholders regularly recognize the excellence of its integrated legal services offering”, says Eric Stevenson. “I am delighted to rejoin a consulting team that is devoted to offering a memorable client-based approach that is well-rooted in a deep understanding of the client’s actual business reality. I am also eager to help Lavery’s current and future clients benefit from my knowledge andvast network of contacts that I had the privilege to develop over the past years.” A leadership connected to the client’s business reality coinciding with Lavery’s vision “As a seasoned attorney, experienced manager and a proven strategist, Eric’s profile, rooted in the realities of the financial industry, is well suited to meet our client’s expectations. With a unique career path, Eric will leverage his leadership and know-how to play an active part in Lavery’s role as a leader of transformation in Québec’s legal market. We are especially proud of the fact that he has chosen Lavery and our Québec City office as a re-entry point into the professional services sector. Eric’s return to Lavery is a testament to the firm’s power to attract exceptional talents”, concludes Anik Trudel, Lavery’s Chief Executive Office.
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Étienne Brassard and Mylène Vallières speak about crowdfunding
Étienne Brassard, and Mylène Vallières, both members of Lavery’s Business Law Group spoke about crowdfunding to Université de Montreal’s Faculty of law on January 11th. This initiative was coordinated by Michaëlle Guilbault, a student with the firm. The event offered Faculty students an opportunity to learn more about the different aspects of this emerging method of financing. Please click here to consult the article in Need to Know to learn more about crowdfunding, in particular the new financing opportunities for start-ups.