Corporate and Commercial

As part of our Pension and Employee Benefits Group, we handle a wide range of complex commercial and investment matters on behalf of pension and other benefit funds and other clients including international and local trade unions and charitable and professional organizations.

We also have special expertise in developing and implementing employee share ownership plans and other forms of equity-based compensation arrangements.

We provide legal services to Labour Sponsored Investment Fund Corporations (LSIFs) involving their creation, maintenance and investment activities. In particular, we are uniquely positioned to assist in the placement of sponsors with promoters interested in establishing LSIFs and have done so on behalf of several corporations.

With such experience, we also act on a regular basis on behalf of private entrepreneurs to provide them with general and specific corporate and commercial legal advice on matters which arise in their business operations and transactions.

Examples of the corporate/commercial and securities advice which the practice regularly provides to our clients include:

• Investment counsel contracts and other pension investment vehicles, including Canadian and foreign private equity funds and partnerships, and real estate funds and partnerships;
• Acquisitions and divestitures of businesses and their assets and undertakings;
• Bank and venture capital financings;
• Charitable, non-profit, professional and training organization formations, including non-share capital corporations, trusts and unincorporated associations;
• Commercial and trade arrangements, including leasing, licensing, agency and distribution agreements;
• Corporate restructurings and amalgamations;
• Shareholder agreements and partnership agreements, both general and limited;
• Employee share ownership plans and other equity-based compensation arrangements, including stock option plans;
• Creation and maintenance of Labour Sponsored Investment Funds.

Since our lawyers have wide and extensive experience in the disciplines of corporate/commercial and securities law, we are able to effectively support the entire needs of our clients in all aspects of business and investment negotiations.

Employee Share Ownership

Our corporate/commercial and securities law practice has special expertise in developing and implementing employee share ownership plans and other forms of equity-based compensation arrangements including stock option plans. This practice has acted on behalf of both employer and employee groups in negotiating and structuring various forms of employee ownership.

Examples of the corporate/commercial and securities advice which we provide in connection with employee share ownership plans include:

• Establishment of employee plan trusts and corporations;
• Subscription documentation;
• Valuation issues;
• Corporate share restructuring required prior to plan implementation;
• Shareholder agreements and other related documents;
• Seminars and presentations to employees;
• Plan compliance issues.

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