Lexpert Roundup on the Business of Law
Lexpert identifies and reports on emerging business issues and practice areas in the business of law. Whether online, in our magazine or in the DealsWire e-newsletter, we chronicle deals and lawsuits of interest, and cover issues of broad concern to the legal profession and those who purchase legal services. We hope you enjoy this sampling of our latest content.
From the DealsWire: Slavery case hits the resource sector, mastering the cross-border deal, Valeant to sell Paragon
The Lexpert DealsWire (subscribe here) documents facts, figures and key legal players behind recent deals. This week's announced deal spotlight features the key players and figures in TD Bank Group's $1.3-billion pickup of Scottrade Bank.
In our closed deals section, we look at the legal teams on Blue Goose – producer of organic beef, chicken and fish – acquiring meat packager Tender Choice, as well as the sale of Bankers Petroleum to affiliates of Geo-Jade Petroleum of Beijing.
We also look at the players behind the sale of an additional 25-per-cent of Vale's Salobo mine gold stream to Silver Wheaton.
In our closed deals section, we look at the legal teams on Vail Resorts of Colorado acquiring Whistler-Blackcomb's iconic resort business as well as Communauto selling a stake to investors including French carmaker PSA Group.
We also look at the players behind the sale of Québec Lithium's mining assets to a subsidiary of Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co., Ltd.
Decision to hear slavery case has implications across industries
A decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia allowing three Eritrean men to proceed with a modern-day slavery lawsuit against a Canadian mining firm has implications for hundreds of companies that do business or have suppliers based in countries with questionable human-rights records, lawyers say.
On the Deal: Woven TogetherIn July, Lydall completed its acquisition of Texel Technical Materials, strengthening Lydall's position as a global provider of filtration and engineered materials. The lead in-house and external counsel explain how a large US firm producing specialty engineering products successfully merged with a much smaller company from French Canada that began by making blankets 49 years ago.
Graphic: Is the gold sale over?
A five-year graphical analysis tracks the spot price of gold against high-profile acquisitions in Canada. For each company, the purchase price is listed as a "discount" from its five-year high in 2011. Since the end of 2015, gold prices have risen steadiliy, leading some deal lawyers to suspect that bargain basement prices for gold assets may be a thing of the past.
Special Edition on Energy
Lexpert published its special edition on Energy in The Globe and Mail 's Report on Business magazine on October 28. Click here to view the digital edition. The special energy edition includes the following features:
Junior oil producers have managed to hang on by cutting expenses to the bone, but as prices retreat once again, a spike in bankruptcies late this year could be inevitable.
Energy projects that have taken years to reach approval stage now face an additional obstacle – new regulation imposed by a federal government with a powerful environmental mandate.
The recent appeal court decision in Gitxaala takes government to task for attempting to reduce Aboriginal consultation to a bureaucratic exercise. Rather, consultation must be meaningful.
Governments have gotten the ball rolling on climate change plans. How quickly those plans unfold – and what level of financial support they entail – remains to be seen.
Follow @Lexpert on Twitter