IFLR1000 is delighted to announce that the shortlist for the second annual IFLR1000 Canada Awards. 

The IFLR1000 Canada Awards reflect months of research into Canada's legal market and showcases the best performers and the most impactful transactions of 2020, along with the teams behind them. The awards aim to recognise and celebrate exceptional performance by law firms, teams and individual lawyers, across the spectrum of corporate finance disciplines. Deals are shortlisted for their market impact, legal innovation, size and complexity. The awards strive to reveal those deals that set new market precedents, defined new legal frameworks or introduced new tools and instruments. All shortlisted transactions fully closed during 2020.The criteria and methodology for IFLR1000 awards can be viewed here. 

Winners will be announced on September 21, 2021 at a virtual ceremony available online. Please register for the awards winners’ announcement here. 

For more details about the ceremony and coverage of the shortlist and winners, please contact Liam Sharkey: lsharkey@iflr1000.com

Deals of the Year

Banking

Bonavista Energy Corporation C$150 million credit facility

• Bennett Jones
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Torys

Dye & Durham C$570 million financing

• Bennett Jones
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• DLA Piper
• McCarthy Tétrault

OPG $750 million credit facility

• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Torys

Properly C$100 million credit facility

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Holland & Knight
• McMillan
• Morrison & Foerster
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt 

Starlight Investments and KingSett Capital C$4.9 billion financing

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Goodmans
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Stikeman Elliott 

WSP Global $1.2 billion financing

• Fasken
• Stikeman Elliott

Capital markets: debt

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec C$1 billion 2.856% NVCC bond offering

• Fasken
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

Prime Structured Mortgage Trust C$450 million Series 2020-1 RMBS

• Torys

RBC Capital Markets C$1.75 billion NVCC AT1 4.5% LRCN issue

• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt 

Rogers Communications C$1.5 billion 3.65% bond issue

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg

Russel Metals C$300 million bond issue

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Stikeman Elliott

TD Bank $1.25 billion Series CBL32 covered bond issue

• Allen & Overy
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Mayer Brown
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

TD Bank C$3 billion NVCC bond issue

• Fasken
• McCarthy Tétrault

Capital markets: equity

BBTV Holdings TSX IPO

• Clark Wilson
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Torys

Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation spin-off

• Appleby
• McMillan
• Torys

GFL Environmental TSX and NYSE IPO

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
• Stikeman Elliott

MindBeacon TSX IPO

• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg

Nuvei TSX IPO

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Davis Polk & Wardwell
• Fasken
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Ropes & Gray

Subversive NEO IPO

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Goodmans

WSP Global $572 bought deal offering

• Fasken
• Stikeman Elliott

M&A

Berkshire Partners C$1.4 billion acquisition of VetStrategy

• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Goodmans
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Torkin Manes
• Torys

Equinix C$1.041 billion acquisition of 13 BCE data centres

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Stikeman Elliott

Equinox Gold/Leagold Mining merger

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Fasken
• Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
• Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Great Hill C$126 million acquisition of VersaPay

• Alston & Bird
• Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Cassels Brock & Blackwell

Hudson's Bay privatization

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• McCarthy Tétrault
• McMillan
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

Kirkland Lake Gold C$4.9 billion acquisition of Detour Gold

• Cassels Brock & Blackwell
• Dorsey & Whitney
• Jones Day
• Squire Patton Boggs
• Stikeman Elliott

NordStar Capital C$60 million acquisition of Torstar

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Torys

Starlight Group Property/KingSett Capital C$4.8 billion acquisition of Northview Apartment REIT

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Cassels Brock & Blackwell
• Goodmans
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Stikeman Elliott

Project finance

Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre C$260 million financing

• Borden Ladner Gervais
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt

Blue Hill 177MW wind farm $280 million financing

• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Torys

Edmonton Valley Line West LRT extension C$2.6 billion financing

• Aird & Berlis
• Farris
• McCarthy Tétrault

Henvey Inlet 300MW wind farm $1 billion financing

• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt

Innavik 7.5MW hydroelectric power plant C$92.8 million financing

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• McCarthy Tétrault

Louis-Hippolyte-La-Fontaine Tunnel rehabilitation

• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Gowling WLG
• Stikeman Elliott

Niagara 230MW wind farm C$850 million refinancing 

•          Blake Cassels & Graydon
•          Stikeman Elliott

St John's mental health and addictions clinic C$330 million financing 

•          Cox & Palmer
•          Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
•          Fasken
•          Gowling WLG
•          McInnes Cooper
•          Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
•          Stewart McKelvey
•          Torys

Restructuring and insolvency

Cirque du Soleil CCAA

• Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Fasken
• Goodmans
• Katten Muchin Rosenman
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Latham & Watkins
• Lavery de Billy
• McCarthy Tétrault
• McMillan
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
• Stikeman Elliott

Clover Leaf Foods & Bumble Bee Foods CCAA

• Bennett Jones
• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Goodmans
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Paul Hastings
• Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
• Torys
• Weil Gotshal & Manges

foodora bankruptcy

• Cavalluzzo
• Dentons
• Koskie Minsky
• Stikeman Elliott

James E Wagner Cultivation Corporation CCAA

• Bennett Jones
• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• DLA Piper
• Torys

Just Energy restructuring

• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Torys

Nemaska Lithium CCAA

• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Dentons
• Goodmans
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Miller Thomson
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys
• Woods

Sherritt International Corporation restructuring

• Bennett Jones
• Fasken
• Goodmans

Firms of the Year 

Alberta

• Bennett Jones
• Blakes
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Torys

British Columbia

• Blakes
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• McCarthy Tetrault
• Osler
• Stikeman Elliott

Ontario

• Blakes
• Davies
• Goodmans
• Osler
• Torys

Québec

• Blakes
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• McCarthy Tetrault
• Osler
• Stikeman Elliott

Lawyers of the Year

Banking

• Michael Matheson - Blakes
• Gus Karantzoulis - Borden Ladner Gervais
• Marc Novello - Fasken
• Celia Rhea - Goodmans
• Richard Higa - McCarthy Tetrault
• Joyce Bernasek - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Jennifer Legge - Stikeman Elliott
• Adam Delean - Torys

Capital markets: debt

• David Wilson - Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Jean-Pierre Chamberland - Fasken
• Jo-Anna Brimmer - McCarthy Tétrault
• Andrew Parker - McCarthy Tétrault
• Rosalind Hunter - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Michael Innes - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Maxime Turcotte - Stikeman Elliott
• David Seville - Torys

Capital markets: equity

• Jennifer Grossklaus - Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Caitlin Rose - Fasken
• Stephen Pincus - Goodmans
• Desmond Lee - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• François Paradis - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Jeffrey Singer - Stikeman Elliott
• Karrin Powys-Lybbe - Torys
• Kevin Morris - Torys

M&A

• Alex Moore - Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Cheryl Satin - Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Fred Pletcher - Borden Ladner Gervais
• Jamie Litchen - Cassels Brock & Blackwell
• Jon Feldman - Goodmans
• Emmanuel Pressman - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• John Ciardullo - Stikeman Elliott
• Michael Akkawi - Torys

Project finance

• Catherine Doyle - Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Sebastian Vilder - Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Brian Kelsall - Fasken
• Samantha Cunliffe - McCarthy Tétrault
• Morgan Troke - McCarthy Tétrault
• Chris Bennett - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Jamie Templeton - Stikeman Elliott
• Scott Kraag - Torys

Restructuring and insolvency

• Natasha MacParland - Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Luc Béliveau - Fasken
• RobertChadwick - Goodmans
• JocelynPerreault - McCarthy Tétrault
• Luc Morin - Norton Rose Fulbright
• SandraAbitan - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Marc Wasserman - Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Guy Martel - Stikeman Elliott

Teams of the Year

Banking

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

Capital markets: debt

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

Capital markets: equity

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Fasken
• Goodmans
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

M&A

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• Borden Ladner Gervais
• Goodmans
• Stikeman Elliott
• Torys

Project finance

• Blake Cassels & Graydon
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Norton Rose Fulbright
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Torys

Restructuring and insolvency

• Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
• Goodmans
• McCarthy Tétrault
• Osler Hoskin & Harcourt
• Stikeman Elliott