Toronto (Canada) - Fasken has been recognized as a Gold winner in the M&A Deal of the Year category at the 2020 inaugural Canadian Law Awards, held virtually on October 6. The awards recognize the nation’s leading law firms, in-house legal teams, individuals and landmark deals over the past year.
M&A Deal of the Year: Air Canada acquires Aeroplan
The Firm was awarded for its work representing Air Canada in the successful closing of its purchase of Aimia Inc.’s Aeroplan loyalty program in a transaction valued at approximately $2.4 Billion and the completion of a number of new co-branded credit card program agreements with each of The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Amex Bank of Canada as well as a network agreement with Visa Canada Corporation in connection with the recently announced transformed Aeroplan Program.
The M&A aspects of the transaction were co-led by Claude E. Jodoin (Tax) and Neil Kravitz with a team that included Costa Ragas, Frédérique Tremblay, Janie Harbec, Paul Cabana, Frédéric Barriault, Taj Kudhail, Huy Do, John Pecman, Chris Margison, Jenna Ward, Samuel Rickett and Luc Béliveau. The co-branded credit card and loyalty program aspects of the transaction were led by Stephen D.A. Clark and Kathleen Butterfield (Financial Services and Loyalty Programs) and included Daniel Fabiano (Privacy), Craig Bellefontaine (Financial Services) and Taisha Lewis (Corporate).This award highlights not only the success of this particular deal but the deep bench strength the Firm possesses that is key to completing large and complex deals. Fasken’s M&A group ranks #1 in the Canadian Q1-Q3 2020 M&A league table rankings and in the top 25 globally, by Mergermarket and Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters) by deal count.
Fasken’s M&A group has expertise in a variety of industries, with clients ranging from startups to industry leaders, including private equity funds, strategic buyers, boards of directors and independent committees, professional service firms, family businesses and their shareholders, as well as public companies listed on stock exchanges throughout the world. More than 100 Fasken lawyers focus on advancing M&A strategies for clients every day. Another 600 are available to step in with specific advice on tax strategies, competition and foreign investment laws, acquisition financing, labour and employment, corporate finance, intellectual property, foreign corrupt practices and government relations. This makes the Fasken M&A team one of the largest and most integrated in Canada and elsewhere.
Fasken’s Tax group provides pragmatic and timely expert services relating to corporate, personal and commodity taxes. With an award winning team of more than 40 lawyers, the group focuses exclusively on helping clients structure and defend tax strategies in Canada or across borders. This includes negotiating tax issues in an M&A deal, determining appropriate structures to minimize income and commodity taxes for an investment fund, addressing anti-avoidance rules or interpreting technical statutory provisions and onerous reporting requirements.
Fasken was also recognized as a Gold winner for the Infrastructure & Projects Deal of the Year: Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project and received Excellence Awards for being selected as a finalist in various categories, including:
- Infrastructure & Projects Deal of the Year - TD Greystone, IST3 Infrastruktur and Seven Indigenous Communities Acquire Alberta PowerLine
- Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year - Nautilus Minerals Insolvency
- M&A Deal of the Year - Aphria's Takeover Defence of Green Growth's Hostile Bid
- M&A Deal of the Year - The Stars Group Combine with Flutter Entertainment
- Private Equity Deal of the Year - Sale of Canada's Shares in Ridley Terminals
- Class Action Team of the Year - Fasken - TELUS Communications Inc. v. Wellman
- Commercial Litigation Team of the Year - Fasken - Canada Post Corp v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers
- Canadian Deal of the Year - Air Canada acquires Aeroplan
- Canadian Deal of the Year - Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project
- Best Use of Technology in a Law Firm
The Firm sends its congratulations to our clients that were also recognized, including joint Gold winner Air Canada in the Construction, Infrastructure & Transportation Law Department of the Year category, and Excellence Award recipients National Bank for Banking and Financial Institutions Law Department of the Year and Dr. Christelle Gedeon of Aphria Inc. for Law Department Leader of the Year.
About Fasken
Fasken is a leading international law firm with more than 750 lawyers and 10 offices on four continents. Clients rely on us for practical, innovative and cost-effective legal services. We solve the most complex business and litigation challenges, providing exceptional value. For additional information, please visit the Firm’s website at fasken.com.
