Special Situations Law

The latest developments in Special Situations Law in Canada

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By: Norton Rose Fulbright

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Andrea Brewer
Alexander Schmitt (Toronto)
Amanda Ferriss (Toronto)
Amanda Fortuna
Andrea Campbell
Andrew McCoomb
Carole Gilbert (Montreal)
Dana Carson
Denise Gan (Toronto)
Danny Urquhart
Evelyn Li
Fahad Siddiqui
Geoff Mens
Guy White
Heidi Reinhart
Hugo Margoc (Toronto)
Jacob Cawker (Toronto)
Jaray Zhao (Toronto)
Jason Giborski (Calgary)
Jeffrey Spiegel (Toronto)
Joe Bricker
Jenny Yoo
Kaitlind de Jong
Kaitlin Shung
Kate Swanson
Katherine Prusinkiewicz
Kassy Corothers (Calgary)
Kristine Spence
Lauren Day
Leo Wang
Linda Fuerst
Lucy Liu (Toronto)
Mark Bissegger (Toronto)
Matthew Lau (Toronto)
Michael Viner (Toronto)
Nader Hasan (Toronto)
Nikolai Kovtouchenko
Orestes Pasparakis
Peter Charbonneau (Toronto)
Peter Valente (Toronto)
Reuben Zaramian
Robert Corbeil (Toronto)
Saeed Teebi (Toronto)
Simone Nash (Toronto)
Stephen Taylor
Sam Zadeh (Toronto)
Todd Melchior
Tracey Kernahan
Trevor Zeyl
Vasuda Sinha
Victoria Riley (Toronto)
Walied Soliman
Zahra Allidina

Latest from Special Situations Law

In a recent paper, Jill Fisch and Simone Sepe outline a new model for corporate governance: the Insider-Shareholder Collaborative model. A Shift Towards Collaboration Two models have previously dominated the corporate governance discourse: (i) the management-power model and (ii) the shareholder-power model. The former emphasizes a board’s decision-making authority as the corporation’s essential coordinating and monitoring system, the latter emphasizes enhanced shareholder power as the means to hold insiders accountable. The authors argue these…
In the day and age of virtual reality and delivery dinner at the click of a button, it seems almost comical to think that we use sliced bread to explain an invention’s usefulness. Given today’s unprecedented surge in technology, it is perhaps unsurprising that the EY Center for Board Matters (“EY”) reported digital transformation as one of the most important priorities for boards. However, while it may be tempting for boards to focus on emerging…
Kingsdale Advisors has released its annual Proxy Season Review for 2018. The Review examines trends observed in 2018, predicts issues on the horizon, and provides advice to both issuers and activists in the marketplace. In what follows, we pick out just a few of the important trends that emerge from Kingsdale’s analysis. The complete report can be viewed here. Public activist activity remains healthy Kingsdale counts 29 public proxy contests for the year to…
This month’s edition of Activist Insight Monthly, which focuses on Canada, features an in-depth interview with Walied Soliman and Orestes Pasparakis, Co-Chairs of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Special Situations team. The interview focuses on recent trends our team is seeing in the Canadian marketplace, including activist short selling, settlements, and the continued rise of “nice” activists. The publication can be found here (sign-up required).…
Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright’s Canadian Special Situations Team has ranked in the top 10 of global legal advisors advising both companies and activists in shareholder activist campaigns and is the only Canadian firm to be represented on the global ranking. To view the Global Shareholder Activism Scorecard, please click here.…
Recently, there has been a trend among both Canadian and United States companies to buy back their shares in order to boost stock prices. In the past – most notably during the “Buyback Bonanza” of 2007 – this strategy has been employed by companies as a mechanism to decrease the amount of outstanding shares, thereby increasing the value of the stock. For years some have criticized share buybacks, asserting that focusing on short term…
activism
A study conducted by global consultancy firm Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) showed that companies with more women on their boards attract fewer activist investors. In particular, the study, which surveyed 1,854 public groups, revealed that companies not targeted by hedge fund activists had on average 13.4 per cent more women on their boards. Despite being a European study, it appears that the push for diverse governance only seems to be getting stronger across the world,…
On July 5, 2018, the Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”) released its annual Statement of Priorities (the “Statement”) for the financial year to end March 31, 2019. The Statement outlines the most pressing issues that the OSC hopes to address in connection with the administration of the Securities Act, regulations and rules. While investor protection is a major focal point of the Statement, the OSC also addresses a number of issues that pertain to shareholder rights…
A fee-shifting by-law in the shareholder litigation context, “obligate[s] the plaintiff-shareholder to reimburse the corporation’s expenses (including attorneys’ fees and other costs) when the plaintiff [is] unsuccessful in litigation.” Shareholder litigation in the United States operates under the “American Rule” which provides that each party is responsible for their own attorney’s fees. Unlike South of the border, in Canada lawyers’ fees are largely recoverable by the prevailing party. The 2008 financial crisis escalated the number…
In a recent post about Canadian proxy contest trends, we discussed the growing concern with “The Active Passive investor” and potential issues on the horizon given a surge in the use of “withhold” campaigns. As of late, the prominence of withhold campaigns to signal shareholder discontent to boards of directors in North American markets has seen an even sharper rise. “Withhold” campaigns In an uncontested election of directors, management of companies solicit proxy cards or…