Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS September 28, 2009 • Law timeS sense that the Great Recession may be a thing of the past have Lawyers celebrate sleepless nights as markets 'on fire' B BY ROBERT TODD Law Times ay Street lawyers are rejoicing as loosening credit markets and a made way for a wave of new deals in September. "All of a sudden, we came back from the holidays in Sep- tember, and deals which clients were putting off or which had been moving along but at a slow pace all of a sudden picked up," McCarthy Tétrault LLP partner Vanessa Grant tells Law Times. Grant suggests a pair of fac- tors have prompted the swift rebound. Credit markets have opened up, and there is a re- newed optimism about the state of the economy, she says. "I really see this as people are saying, 'enough is enough,' and the economy is moving on," says Grant. "It's really terrific." The upbeat predictions come Paralegal Studies Bachelor of Applied Arts A 4-year degree that will launch your career as a paralegal. Accredited as a paralegal education program by The Law Society of Upper Canada. Become: • Small Claims Court Agent • Provincial Offences Prosecutor • Legal Researcher Apply now! a year after the symbolic collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., a historic fall from grace that put the deep freeze on markets worldwide and shelved many potential deals. But many of those deals ap- pear to have a renewed shelf life as Thomson Reuters reported that the first week of September saw Canadian companies bring in almost $5.9 billion through stock sales, setting a new mark for the most money raised in a single week in history. Grant, who deals with a wide range of clients in her practice, is jubilant about the sudden increase in mergers and acquisi- tions and capital finance activity. "We are seeing both prongs of that," she says. "I am hoping we are like the canary in the coal mine, signalling that, like the eco- nomic indicators we have seen, we really are out of the recession." Grant is hopeful that work will continue streaming in for the rest of the year and into 2010. So far, she doesn't see anything standing in the way of a return to typical deal levels, "even slightly height- ened activity levels." business.humber.ca Untitled-1 1 9/17/09 12:19:02 PM "I am cautiously optimistic that with the credit markets opening up a little more, with valuations coming more into line with expectations of what valuations should be, that what we're seeing is a return to histor- ical activity levels," says Grant. "I'm really just thrilled that the plug seems to have been pulled and some of these deals are actually coming to fruition. It's really nice to see it across the board. My practice right now is a very nice mix of some M&A, some acquisitions, and some capital finance transac- tions, and, you know, it's just great to see." Reflecting on the downturn Announcement Th e Law Foundation of Ontario is pleased to announce that the 2008 Annual Report is available on our website at: www.lawfoundation.on.ca We also invite you to visit our website for information about the Foundation's activities and grants program. Bound copies of our Annual Report are also available. Annonce La Fondation du droit de l'Ontario est heureuse d'annoncer que son rapport annuel 2008 est accessible sur son site Web à l'addresse suivante: www.lawfoundation.on.ca Nous vous invitons egalement à visiter notre site Web pour obtenir de l'information sur les activités de la Fondation et les programmes de subventions. Vous pouvez également obtenir le rapport sur support papier. Il suffi t d'en faire la de- mande par téléphone au (416) 598-1550 ou par courriel à general@lawfoundation.on.ca Il nous fera plaisir de vous en faire parvenir un exemplaire. Please call (416) 598-1550 or email us at general@lawfoundation.on.ca 20 Queen Street West, Suite 3002, Box 19, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3R3 www.lawtimesnews.com over the past year, Grant says the period was particularly stressful for lawyers. "There was always the next deal on the horizon, but it just wasn't moving at the pace that we would have expected," she says. "And certainly clients were more cautious about the deal because there was economic un- certainty. So I think that uncer- tainty was reflected in the deals that were moving more slowly and the deals that were just not getting done. "And we felt that uncertain- ty internally as well, no ques- tion about it. It's not that we weren't busy; it's just that it was a slightly different pace than what we've been used to." Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP partner Shawn McReynolds pegs the recovery as far back as the second week of July. He notes that the sum- mer is traditionally the time when activity slows. "The capital markets have been on fire the last couple of weeks," he says. "We've done three deals in the last 24 hours alone as well as having done the big Barrick [Gold Corp.] deal last week with a couple of others. "It's a robust time. All of a sudden, the capital markets are quite robust." He notes the activity has not been confined to certain areas of the economy as it was earlier in the year. "There were certain spaces where you could still raise capi- tal, but right now it's across the board. We're seeing a bunch of diversified companies rais- ing capital right now, compa- nies that probably wouldn't have been interested in rais- ing capital at the prices their stocks traded at four, five, six months ago. We've had quite a sustained rally in the equity markets, and that helps too." McReynolds notes that the United States has experienced a surge in initial public offerings with five deals coming to market recently. He suspects the Cana- dian market will soon follow the pace set south of the border. "It's all good," he says. "It's a virtuous circle. Confidence on the part of business that the world has stabilized has precip- itated more transactions, which themselves have precipitated more confidence. And so a cer- tain amount of momentum has built up. How sustainable it is – who knows? But at the mo- ment, we're seeing a high level of activity and a high level of optimism going forward." While a few staff at his firm have endured some sleepless nights working on the recent influx of deals, McReynolds says "people are happy." "People want to be busy. You would rather hear people com- plaining that they are too busy than people complaining that they're not busy. And so I think people are delighted to see high activity levels and to be doing interesting transactions." McReynolds notes it's diffi- cult to have a "clear crystal ball" about whether the rally will last but says the sense is that more deals will keep lawyers busy at least until the end of the year. "I don't know if anybody has much vision beyond next week, but to the extent that people have a kind of gut feel, my per- ception is that business levels will be active," he says. LT

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