Kate McNeece is a Partner in our Competition/Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group in Toronto focusing on competition and antitrust law and foreign investment review. Kate is consistently recognized as an emerging leader in the competition bar, including as the only Canadian lawyer to appear on the Global Competition Review’s 40 Under 40 list of preeminent young antitrust practitioners (2024).

Kate's practice encompasses all aspects of competition law, including mergers and acquisitions, marketing and distribution practices, abuse of dominance, and criminal and civil investigations. She is a trusted advisor to companies in a range of industries on competition compliance matters, including commercial agreements, greenwashing, drip pricing and other deceptive marketing matters. She also provides strategic advice on foreign investment merger review under the Investment Canada Act, including both economic “net benefit” reviews and national security reviews, with particular experience in SOE reviews and negotiation of mitigation agreements. She has worked with clients in a number of Canada's key industries including upstream and downstream energy, renewable energy, construction, telecommunications and consumer products.

Kate’s deep knowledge of the competition/antitrust and foreign investment regimes in Canada has made her a valued business advisor and a thought leader on competition and foreign investment policy in Canada, including speaking at events organized by the Canadian Bar Association and the Competition Bureau, and testifying in Parliament in respect of the impact of proposed amendments to the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act. Kate is a regular host of the CBA’s Counterfactual podcast, which can be found on all major podcast platforms.

Some of the matters in which Kate has been involved include:

Merger Control

• Splunk on its acquisition by Cisco for an enterprise value of US$28 billion
• West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. on its C$140 million acquisition of Spray Lake Sawmills
• Parkland Corporation on its acquisition of more than 150 Husky gas stations from Cenovus Energy Inc. for an undisclosed amount
• Evonik Industries AG on its US$625 million acquisition of PeroxyChem
• 21^st Century Fox Inc. on the US$52.4 billion proposed acquisition of Fox's film and television assets by Walt Disney Co.
• Pinnacle Foods Inc. on its US$10.9 billion proposed acquisition by ConAgra Brands, Inc.
• Federal-Mogul on its US$5.4 billion acquisition by Tenneco Inc.
• The Carlyle Group and AkzoNobel on the US$12.5 billion proposed acquisition by The Carlyle Group and GIC of the Specialty Chemicals business of AkzoNobel
• WillScot Corporation on its US$1.1 billion proposed acquisition of Modular Space Holdings Inc.
• GE on the merger of its Oil & Gas business with Baker Hughes to create a combined company with approximately $23 billion in annual revenue
• Imperial Oil Limited on its divestment of 497 Esso retail gas stations for C$2.8 billion
• BCE Inc. on its C$594-million acquisition of Glentel Inc.

Foreign Investment

• Glencore plc on its acquisition of a 77% interest in Teck Resources Limited’s steelmaking coal business, Elk Valley Resources, for US$6.93 billion
• Discovery, Inc. on its approximately $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T Inc.
• CCCI International Holding Limited on its $1.51 billion proposed acquisition of Aecon Group Inc.
• Shandong Gold Group on its proposed acquisition of TMAC Resources Inc.
• Cineworld Group plc on its C$2.8 billion proposed acquisition of Cineplex Inc.
• Zijin Mining Group Co. in its C$1.4 billion agreement to acquire Continental Gold Inc.

Kate was called to the bar in New York in 2014 and in Ontario in 2015. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, Canadian Bar Association, and American Bar Association. She is currently Chair of the Podcast Committee of the CBA Competition Law Section, and serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the International Antitrust Law Committee of the ABA Section of International Law, and edits the Committee’s Year in Review publication. Ms. McNeece is a frequent writer and speaker on competition law topics, and has served as an adjunct professor of competition law at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Kate received her JD from Columbia Law School in 2013. At Columbia, she received James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar awards as well as the Parker School Certificate in International and Comparative Law, and was an editor of the Columbia Human Rights Review. Kate graduated from Yale University in 2007 with a degree in economics.