Advising on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance transactions and other significant corporate matters across industries, John is co-head of the firm’s M&A Practice and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading corporate and securities lawyers, with deep deal acumen and strong technical skill to advance clients’ business strategies.John has a broad range of experience in complex M&A, transactional, securities, private equity, regulatory, governance, activism and compliance matters. With an international range of clients, John represents domestic and foreign acquirors, private equity sponsors, targets, special committees, boards of directors and investment banks in all aspects of M&A (both public and private), including hostile takeover bids, strategic review processes, proxy contests, going-private transactions, private equity transactions and negotiated acquisitions.John regularly advises companies, directors and shareholders on corporate governance, crisis management, activism, compliance and other critical situations. He also has extensive experience in corporate finance transactions, representing issuers, underwriters and investors in domestic and international debt and equity public offerings and private placements.
Torys
The corporate and M&A practice at Torys marshals the combined experience of teams in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Calgary and New York, to advise major corporates and financial institutions (including Scotiabank and BNP Paribas) involved in cross-border transactions at the domestic and international levels. The group’s client roster spans such sectors as telecoms, financial services, cannabis, utilities and energy. The group is jointly led in Toronto by John Emanoilidis, Karrin Powys-Lybbe and Michael Amm, all of whom bring expertise to complex M&A, securities, private equity and corporate governance matters. Other key figures include Adrienne DiPaolo in Toronto, who, in addition to public and private M&A, acts for bidders and targets in both negotiated and contested transactions; Janan Paskaran in Calgary, a specialist in securities compliance matters and corporate finance; and Jennifer Baugh (also in Calgary) who was promoted to partner in January 2023. Another key figure is senior associate Daniel Masliyah in Toronto.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Adrienne DiPaolo is fantastic. She is insightful, practical and gets right to the heart of any issue.’
‘Excellent communication, proactive, able to give multiple business points to consider.’
‘They take a business approach and make the client aware of what is important and what is not.’
‘Ricco Bhasin is very deal-savvy and understands business objectives. He puts together great teams.'
Key clients
- Rogers Control Trust
- Brookfield Corporation
- BNP Paribas
- The Toronto-Dominion Bank
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
- Pembina Gas Infrastructure
- Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
- Scotiabank
- Champion Petfoods
- Olympus Corporation
- Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
- Canaccord Genuity Corp.
- Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
- Home Capital Group
- AmeriVet Veterinary Partners
- The Bank of Nova Scotia
- Qatalyst Partners
- Enbridge
- AltaGas
Work highlights
- Acting as counsel to Rogers Control Trust in Rogers Communications’ C$26bn acquisition of Shaw Communications.
- Advised Brookfield in the spin-off of a 25% interest in its asset management business that resulted in the division of Brookfield into two publicly traded companies.
- Advised TD Bank, as Canadian counsel, in its $13.4bn acquisition of First Horizon Corporation.
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Across domestic and international corporate and capital markets transactions, Mike’s deep deal experience, technical insights and strategic acumen guide organizations through their most significant and complex transactions. Mike is co-head of Torys’ M&A practice and regularly leads complex transactions, both international and domestic, combining broad experience with creativity and a practical approach to solving problems and effectively closing deals. Mike’s extensive experience across corporate transactions includes mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, securities offerings and IPOs, private equity transactions, joint ventures and royalty and streaming transactions. He also regularly advises on corporate governance and securities law matters. With over 20 years of M&A and capital markets experience, Mike has played key roles in significant transactions involving leading companies such as CN Rail, NFI Group, Bombardier, Stelco Holdings, the Aditya Birla Group, China Investment Corp. and many of the leading domestic and international investment banks. As a Canadian and U.S. qualified lawyer having practiced for a number of years in the firm’s New York office, Mike also brings broad international experience to his practice. He is also one of the key partners involved in Torys’ work with Chinese clients. With deep industry experience in mining and metals, Michael has acted on a wide variety of matters for clients including Franco-Nevada, Inmet Mining, Pala Investments, Nevada Copper, Americas Gold & Silver, Imperial Metals, McEwen Mining, Zijin Mining, CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, BaseCore Metals and many of the leading domestic and international investment banks.
With a track record helping domestic and multinational organizations execute investments in Canada and around the world, Janan is a leading corporate lawyer advising clients on their M&A and capital markets transactions. Janan’s practice focuses on corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on international transactions. He has an efficient, practical approach that comes from an extensive background of experience representing public and private issuers in a wide variety of financing, business combination and public and private M&A transactions. Janan also regularly counsels clients across sectors on their securities compliance matters, commercial transactions, and corporate finance, procedures and governance. Janan is the co-leader of Torys’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Next Generation Partners
With multifaceted skill across public and private mergers and acquisitions, securities law and corporate governance, Adrienne is a longstanding advisor to clients in executing their transactional, capital raising and other activities. Adrienne works closely with some of Canada’s largest companies and institutional investors in their capital markets, securities law and corporate governance matters. With deep experience in both public and private M&A, Adrienne frequently acts for bidders and targets in both negotiated and contested transactions. She also provides ongoing advice to companies, directors and shareholders on corporate governance and securities compliance matters. Adrienne also supports both issuers and investment banks in a variety of public offerings.