We offer the services of one of Canada's premier banking teams, acting for both lenders and borrowers. We provide practical and business-oriented solutions to issues that arise in any aspect of a financing transaction, while always conscious of the long-term working relationship between the parties. We offer expert insight into present market realities, understand what risks lenders and borrowers are prepared to accept in the current environment and the different strategies being used to properly allocate and mitigate risks. In all cases, our primary focus is to offer innovative and practical solutions, in a prompt and efficient manner, both at the outset and throughout the course of each mandate. We also have an exceptional international reputation, with the ability to work seamlessly with U.S. and foreign counsel in cross-border matters.
Financing Expertise
Our finance practice extends to all areas of financing:
- corporate financing
- syndicated financing
- cross-border financing
- acquisition financing
- secured and unsecured lending
- project financing
- asset based lending
- debt restructuring
- real estate financing
- public and private debt instruments
- derivative products
- securitizations
- aircraft financing
- privatizations
- investment funds
We are active in advising on restructuring transactions, having participated in some of Canada's largest and most high-profile situations. We are particularly active in the area of infrastructure and project finance and have worked on lending and financing transactions for some of the largest and most notable infrastructure projects in Canada across multiple sectors, including roads, healthcare facilities, power production facilities and other public facilities.
Our financing clients include Canadian and foreign financial institutions and corporate borrowers, investment funds, governments and their agencies and corporations in a wide range of industries, as well as Canadian leading industries such as pulp and paper, steel, entertainment, telecommunications, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, mining, transportation, information technology, manufacturing, retail, food processing and public utilities.
Regulatory and Financial Institutions
Our financial institutions practice is broad and diverse. Stikeman Elliott acts for participants in the financial institutions sector in the entire range of their activities. Our clients include major Schedule I and Schedule II banks, foreign banks, Canadian and other insurance companies, investment dealers, trust companies, members of the investment fund industry, and others, including non-regulated entities, providing financial services. We also advise or have advised governments and their agencies on legislative and regulatory issues. Our particular expertise in this sector includes:
- corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures among financial institutions
- permitted activities and permitted investments
- establishment of financial services businesses in Canada and foreign bank entry into Canada
- bank capital transactions, including innovative capital transactions
- foreign bank debt and equity issuances into Canada
- compliance and capital issues
- consumer protection, cost of credit disclosure, usury laws and class actions
- government relations
We regularly act on transactions involving significant regulatory questions and have consequently developed a thorough understanding of the regulatory framework governing the sector. We have a good working relationship with regulators and extensive knowledge of the public policy environment in which they operate. An example of this is our relationship with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the federal financial institutions regulator, which has included assistance with the drafting of policy statements as well as participation in surveys and discussions with respect to its review of certain of its procedures.
We have numerous contacts within the federal Department of Finance, which is responsible for drafting the policies, regulation and legislation that the OSFI and the department enforce. A partner is the former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Canada and a former partner is the current Minister of Finance of Ontario. Similarly, at the provincial level, we have strong ties to both regulators and policy analysts and advisors.
As regulatory regimes evolve in this and other sectors, competition (antitrust) law becomes a more vital component of corporate strategy. Our Competition Group is considered among the best in Canada. Through our work on the proposed merger of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Toronto-Dominion Bank, as well as other transactions in the sector, we have developed valuable insight into the application of the
Competition Act to participants in the financial services sector.
Recognition for Our Work
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| Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers for Business ranks our banking and finance practices among Canada's leaders, giving the firm special praise in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montréal. IFLR1000 recommends our group for both bank lending and regulatory work, while the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory identifies Stikeman Elliott banking lawyers in three Canadian offices as leading practitioners in their field. |
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