Our Team

Lexpert/Thomson Canada’s Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2011—Most frequently recommended practitioner in corporate mid-market; repeatedly recommended in corporate finance and securities

Lexpert/American Lawyer Media’s Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada 2011 and 2012—Leading lawyer in corporate mid-market

Legal Media Group/Euromoney's IFLR1000 Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms 2011—Leading Canadian lawyer in M&A

Woodward White’s Best Lawyers in Canada 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012—Leading lawyer in corporate and M&A

Lexpert/Thomson Canada’s Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2009 and 2010—Repeatedly recommended practitioner in corporate finance and securities

Real Time News' LawDay 2009—Leading lawyer in securities/corporate law and telecommunications

Lexpert/Thomson Canada’s Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2008—Repeatedly recommended practitioner in corporate finance

Lexpert/American Lawyer’s Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada 2007—Repeatedly recommended practitioner in serving the corporate mid-market

David has recently represented

• Alliance Films in connection with numerous transactions, including its 2011 purchase of Maple Pictures from Lionsgate
• Alberta Investment Management Corporation in connection with strategic investments
• certain significant shareholders in connection with the Resolute Forest Products 2011 takeover bid for Fibrek Inc.
• certain significant shareholders of West 49 in connection with its C$83.2 million sale to Billabong International in 2010 
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and UBS Securities LLC in connection with Mitel’s 2010 US$230 million U.S. initial public offering
• Bank of Canada in connection with numerous regulatory matters in 2010 and 2011
• Cognos
  • in its 2008 US$4.9 billion sale to IBM, the largest global acquisition ever undertaken by IBM 
  • in its 2007 C$339 million acquisition of Applix
• Crosbie & Co., the financial adviser to
  • Northland Power Income Fund's independent trustees in Northland Power Income Fund's 2010 corporate conversion
  • Northland Power Income Fund's independent trustees in Northland Power Income Fund's 2009 merger with Northland Power Inc.
  • Clearwater Seafoods Income Fund's trustees' special committee in Clearwater Fine Foods’ proposed bid to acquire 10 million trust units of the fund for C$60 million
• Cunningham Lindsey
• in its 2007 going-private transaction
• in its 2005 rights offering
• Fairfax Financial Holdings on a number of capital markets transactions, including in its
• 2012 acquisition of Prime Restaurants
• 2011 acquisition of 75% of Sporting Life
• 2011 refinancing and recapitalization of Imvescor Restaurant Group Inc.
• 2011 C$400 million offering of senior notes
• 2011 US$500 million private offering of senior notes
• 2011 cash tender offer for up to an aggregate of US$500 million of notes
• 2010 C$300 million offering of preferred shares
• 2010 purchase of Fibrek’s common shares in connection with a C$40 million rights offering following SFK Pulp Fund’s conversion from an income trust to a corporation
• 2010 C$250 million public offering of preferred shares
• 2010 C$275 million offering of senior notes
• 2010 US$200 million offering of subordinate voting shares
• 2010 US$1.4 billion acquisition of Zenith National Insurance
• 2010 C$194 million offering of preferred shares
• 2009 C$200 million offering of preferred shares
• 2009 universal shelf prospectus in Canada and the United States for the offering of up to US$2 billion of securities
• 2009 going-private transaction of Odyssey Re Holdings
• 2009 US$1 billion offering of subordinate voting shares
• 2009 C$400 million offering of senior notes
• 2009 recapitalization of The Brick Group Income Fund
• 2009 going-private transaction of Advent Capital (Holdings) PLC
• 2009 recapitalization and DIP financing for AbitibiBowater
• 2009 strategic investment in Mullen Group Income Fund by way of the purchase of C$65 million of convertible debentures
• 2009 investment with Alberta Investment Management Corporation in C$135 million preferred units of Canadian Western Bank
• 2009 investment in H&R REIT's C$200 million private issuance of debentures
• 2009 going-private transaction of Northbridge Financial
• 2008 purchase of Ridley's C$81 million common shares
• 2008 purchase of Mega Brands’ C$64 million senior unsecured convertible debentures
• 2008 shelf prospectus offering up to US$1 billion of securities
• 2008 investment in AbitibiBowater by way of the purchase of US$350 million of convertible debentures
• 2007 privatization of Cunningham Lindsey Group, a leading global provider of independent insurance claims services, and the subsequent sale of a 51% interest in Cunningham Lindsey's operating businesses to private equity funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC
• 2007 US$283 million debt tender offer
• 2005 US$300 million MJDS offering of subordinate voting shares
• 2004 offering in Canada and the United States of US$95 million of 7.75% senior notes
• 2004 US$204.6 million debt exchange offer
• 2004 universal shelf prospectus in Canada and the United States for the offering of up to US$750 million of securities
• 2004 C$146 million secondary offering of common shares of Northbridge Financial
• 2003 US$78 million issue of debentures exchangeable for shares of Odyssey Re
• 2003 US$200 million private placement of convertible debentures in the United States
• 2001 C$250 million private placement of subordinate voting shares and its 1999 US$275 million offering of debt securities
• NYSE listing
• Maju Investments, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings of Singapore, its 2009 financing of Niko Resources' US$300 million acquisition of Black Gold
• Medisys Health Group
• advising Persistence Capital Partners LP in the 2008 going-private transaction of Medisys
• in its 2005 conversion to an income fund and follow-on acquisitions and financings
• Northbridge Financial in its 2003 C$201 million initial public offering of common shares in Canada and Rule 144A private placement in the United States
• Laing O'Rourke in the establishment of its business and operations in Canada in 2010
• Leitch Technology
• in its C$570 million sale to Harris
• in its acquisition of Videotek
• in its acquisition of New Jersey–based AgileVision
• in its takeover bid for Digital Processing Systems
• in its investments in Fastvibe and California-based Path 1 Network Technologies
• in its Nasdaq listing
• in its cross-border bought deal public offerings of common shares
• Rogers Communications, Rogers Cable and Rogers Wireless in more than 20 cross-border offerings between 1991 and 2002 of over US$5 billion of debt securities
• Sepracor in its 2008 acquisition of Oryx Pharmaceuticals
• Temasek Holdings in its 2010 strategic investments 
• TLCVision
• in its 2010 recapitalization by Charlesbank Capital Partners and HIG Capital; the transaction won M&A Advisor's Turnaround of the Year (Lower Middle Market) award and its Healthcare Life Sciences Sector award
• in its 2008 dissident proxy battle
• in its 2007 recapitalization and tender offer
• in its 2007 acquisition of TruVision
• in its equity investment in Vascular Sciences and joint venture to establish OccuLogix
• in its US$143 million cross-border public offering of common shares
• in its C$106 million merger with Laser Vision Centers
• OccuLogix
• in its 2008 financing and acquisition of OcuSense
• in its 2007 acquisition of SOLX
• in its 2004 US$100.8 million initial public offering, the largest cross-border healthcare IPO
• Odyssey Re Holdings in its cross-border US$308.5 million initial public offering

From July 1990 to August 1991, David was on secondment to the Ontario Securities Commission's International Markets and Corporate Finance Branches. David is an editorial board member of Federated Press's North American Corporate Lawyer. He has lectured at conferences and law schools, and has published articles on cross-border debt offerings, the multijurisdictional disclosure system, corporate governance and shareholder agreements. David is actively involved in the non-profit sector and is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Foundation Leadership Program.

August 2008: American Lawyer recognizes Cognos' 2008 US$4.9 billion sale to IBM and Fairfax's 2008 investment in AbitibiBowater deals as two of the top ten cross-border deals in 2008 

April 2, 2008: Featured in The Globe and Mail for his role in Fairfax Financial Holdings' US$350 million debenture investment in AbitibiBowater

March 29, 2008: Featured in The Globe and Mail’s article, “Shrinking Giant”