Stikeman Elliott is recognized nationally and internationally as one of Canada's leading M&A firms. Our clients range from multinational corporations and their boards of directors, to private companies and small businesses.

Over the years, we have been involved in a significant number of transactions concerning U.S. and other non-Canadian acquirers of Canadian businesses and have been at the forefront of evolving practices in M&A transactions, including those involving strategic, private equity, sovereign wealth fund and state-owned enterprise buyers. The firm has earned particular respect for expertise in acting for both acquirers and target companies in hostile take-over situations and has extensive experience with take-over bids, plans of arrangement, leveraged buy-outs and management buy-outs.

To better meet the needs of clients who are involved in either the purchase or the sale of a company or business unit, the M&A Group works closely with other practitioners throughout the firm to provide a full array of related services, such as private equity and venture capital, tax, competition, intellectual property, environmental, real estate, government relations, and employment and labour expertise.

Recognition for Our Work

• Acted in 9 of the Top 10 Corporate Deals in Canada for 2009, as selected by Lexpert, more than any other firm
  
  
• Ranked as "top tier" in Corporate/M&A by U.K.-based Chambers Global 
  
  
• Ranked as "top tier" in M&A in IFLR 1000, The Guide to the World's Leading Law Firms
  
  
• Ranked #1 in Best Lawyers among Canadian law firms for M&A
  
  
• #1 nationally for Lexpert ranked lawyers in M&A, Corporate Finance, Corporate Commercial, Asset Securitization and Derivatives
  
  
• #1 among Canadian firms in Corpfin's 2008 and 2009 league tables by value of North American deals
  
  
• #1 among Canadian firms in Mergermarket's 2009 league tables by value of Asia-Pacific (ex. Japan), Asia (ex. Japan & Australasia) and Greater China M&A deals
  
  
• #1 Canadian firm in Factset's league tables of Top Legal Advisors for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 with respect to number and value of U.S.-based deals
  
  
• The practice and its attorneys are also regularly cited in PLC Which Lawyer?, A Guide to the World's Leading M&A Lawyers (Euromoney) and the International Who's Who of M&A Lawyers (Who's Who Legal)

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Value-Added Client Resources

As part of our effort to remain at the forefront of client service, we have developed a new securities, corporate finance and M&A focused website called Canadian Securities Law Online, the first major site of its kind to be launched by any of the leading national law firms in Canada. The site provides real-time information on Canadian regulatory and market development, in addition to cross-posting our market-leading Securities Update commentary on legal issues affecting corporate counsel and business professionals. The site is fully searchable with extensive archived materials, indexed by topic, and allows users to subscribe for immediate updates via e-mail or RSS feed.

Canadian Securities Law Online is publicly available at http://www.canadiansecuritieslaw.com/.

Representative Experience

Recently, Stikeman Elliott has worked on a number of significant Canadian and cross-border transactions, including acting for:

• Wyeth as Canadian counsel in the US$68 billion acquisition by Pfizer Inc.

• Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B. de C.V., as Canadian counsel in its US$2.5 billion acquisition of the U.S. fresh baking assets from George Weston Limited.

• Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation in their $2.1 billion offer to acquire Tanganyika Oil Company Ltd.

• Dubai-based Istithmar World Capital and Nakheel in their acquisition of a 20 per cent interest in Cirque du Soleil.

• Teck Cominco Ltd. in its $14.1 billion acquisition of Fording Canadian Coal Trust.
  

• Yara International ASA in its Cdn. $1.6 billion acquisition of Canadian nitrogen producer Saskferco.

• NRDC Equity Partners in its acquisition of Hudson's Bay Company.

• BCE Inc. in connection with the $51.7 billion bid by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners, the largest buyout in Canadian history.
  

For a complete list of our M&A experience please click here.

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Recent Group Activities

Chinese M&A Deal of the Year
Sinopec International Petroleum's $10.3-billion offer for Addax Petroleum Corp. was awarded Asian-Counsel's Deals of the Year for 2009.

Income Trust Survey published
Stikeman Elliott, in conjunction with BarnesMcInerney Inc. and Computershare/Georgeson, has produced a comprehensive survey of C-suite executives on the future on income trusts in Canada, with results featured in the Globe and Mail and the Financial Post.

#1 in Corporate, #1 in Litigation
Stikeman Elliott acted on 9 of Lexpert's Top 10 Corporate Deals of 2009, more than any other firm. The firm also acted in 4 of the Top 10 Business Cases of 2009, the most of any firm in Canada.

#1 in M&A
Stikeman Elliott is rated #1 in North American M&A (among Canadian firms) by volume of deals, according to Corpfin 2009 Q3 league tables.

Registration Reform webcasts available
The webcasts of Stikeman Elliott's seminars from August 13 (Registration Reform: The Finish Line is Here) and August 20 (The Practical Impact of the New Registration Regime in Canada: A Road Map for Implementation) are now available online.

#1 in Best Lawyers Canada
The firm received #1 rankings in M&A, Securities, Corporate, Derivatives, International Arbitration and Media law by the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada.

#1 in Cross-border Lawyers Guide
Stikeman Elliott has been named the #1 firm for cross-border M&A, Corporate Finance, Insolvency, Banking & Financial Services and Energy by the 2009 Lexpert Guide to the Leading U.S./Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers in Canada.

M&A lawyer speaking at Due Diligence conference
November 9-10 / Michael Styczen will be a course leader at the 13th Due Diligence conference in Calgary.

Teck Resources transaction
Stikeman Elliott is acting for Teck Resources Limited in the $1.74 billion private placement of Class B subordinate voting shares to China Investment Corporation.

#1 in Cross-border M&A
Stikeman Elliott was ranked #1 among Canadian firms by value of U.S., Asia-Pacific, Asia and Greater China M&A deals in mergermarket's league tables for 2009 YTD.

Sinopec acquires Addax Petroleum
The firm acted for Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation in its US$ 10.3 billion acquisition of Addax Petroleum Corp.

CNPC International offer to acquire outstanding shares of Verenex Energy
Stikeman Elliott acted for CNPC International Ltd. in its $499 million offer to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Verenex Energy Inc.

Stikeman Elliott acts on Globe and Mail's top deals for 2008
Stikeman Elliott acted in four of the Globe and Mail's top 12 deals (by value) for 2008, including Teck Cominco's acquisition of Fording Coal, Grupo Bimbo's acquisition of Dunedin Bread, Sinopec's acquisition of Tanganyika Oil and Yara's acquisition of Saskferco.

Stikeman Elliott receives two 2008 Deal Maker Awards
Kinross Gold Corp.'s acquisition of Aurelian Resources Inc., where Stikeman Elliott acted for Aurelian Resources Inc., won the Foreign Outbound Award and Yara International ASA's acquisition of Saskferco Products Inc., in which Stikeman Elliott acted for Yara International ASA, won the Foreign Inbound Award in The Globe and Mail's 2008 Deal Maker Awards.

Toronto lawyers author M&A chapter
Marvin Yontef and Simon Romano contributed the "Canada" chapter to the Global Legal Group's The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Mergers and Acquisitions 2009.

World Finance Legal Awards
Stikeman Elliott was honoured as the 2008 Best Corporate & Commercial Team in Canada by World Finance magazine, a leading UK financial magazine produced by World News Media.

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