Lawyer Profile Detail

Garth M. Girvan is a senior partner in the firm’s Toronto office. He joined the firm in 1978, and practises in the areas of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and financial institutions regulation. Mr. Girvan is a member of the firm’s Board of Partners.

Mr. Girvan's recent experience includes:

• counsel to Torstar Corporation in its bid for the newspaper assets of CanWest Publishing ($950 million)
• counsel to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in connection with the sale of its interest in Canwest Media Inc. to Shaw Communications Inc. ($709 million)
• counsel to Vitol Group in its bid for Arawak Energy Limited, a bid made in compliance with U.K. and Canadian law ($100 million);
• acted for OMERS in connection with its acquisition of Teranet Income Fund ($2 billion)
• acted for Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with its acquisition of a 37% interest in CI Financial Income Fund ($2.3 billion);
• acted for Q9 Networks Inc. in connection with its acquisition by ABRY Partners ($360 million);
• acted for Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in respect of the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. ($2.3 billion);
• acted for Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in connection with the acquisition of a 100% interest in Movie Distribution Income Fund ($400 million)
• acted for Cascade Investment, LLC (the personal investment arm of Bill Gates) in connection with its proposed buy-out of Four Seasons Hotels ($3.7 billion);
• acted for Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with the activities of hedge funds relating to Sears Canada Inc.;
• counsel to Falconbridge Limited on its proposed merger with Inco Limited and its acquisition by Xstrata plc ($24 billion);
• counsel to Atlas Cold Storage Income Fund on its acquisition by Avion Group ($580 million);
• counsel to CP Ships on its sale to Tui AG ($2 billion US);
• counsel to Molson Inc. on its merger with Adolph Coors Inc. ($8 billion);
• counsel to Craig Media Limited on its sale to CHUM Limited ($265 million);
• counsel to Hollinger International and its board of directors on matters relating to Hollinger Inc. and Conrad Black;
• counsel to the Independent Committee of the Board of Bombardier Inc. in connection with the sale of Bombardier's Recreational Products Division to Bain Capital ($1.1 billion);
• counsel to Canada Life Financial Corporation on the acquisition of Canada Life by Great West Lifeco Inc. in response to the hostile bid by Manulife Financial ($7.3 billion); and
• counsel to the Government of Ontario in connection with the proposed privatization of Hydro One Inc. ($6 billion).

Mr. Girvan appears in the following Lexpert directories:

• the 2007 to 2010 editions of LEXPERT/The American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, as a leading lawyer in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate commercial law and corporate finance.
• all editions of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, a guide to the leading law firms and practitioners in Canada, as a leading lawyer in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate commercial law, corporate finance and securities, and in the 2007 edition in the area of private equity.

Mr. Girvan is listed in The Best Lawyers in Canada in the field of Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law. He is also listed in the 2007 to 2010 editions of Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers in Business as a leading lawyer in the area of corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, and is listed as a leading lawyer in the following Euromoney Guides: Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, Corporate Governance and Structured Finance. Mr. Girvan is also listed in the 2007 PLC: Which Lawyer? as highly recommended in the area of capital markets.

Mr. Girvan has been called to the bars of Ontario, Alberta and New York. He spent 1985 with the firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton in New York, practising in the area of securities law. Mr. Girvan is a frequent speaker at continuing education seminars on securities topics. He is a member of the board of directors of Imax Corporation, an entertainment company.