With keen business instincts, Shevaun is invested in clients’ success. A skilled negotiator with energy to spare, she gets the deal done.

Shevaun McGrath is a partner in the firm’s Toronto office and Co-Head of McCarthy Tétrault’s National Private Equity Group. She is also part of the firm’s Senior Leadership Team, as National Leader of Strategic Initiatives, focusing on delivering business solutions and enhancing our approach to evolving client needs.

An accomplished dealmaker, Shevaun was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada (2024) for her expertise in private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets. With a proven ability to assist clients with investment opportunities, and an instinct for negotiating the best outcomes, Shevaun takes a practical and business-driven approach to clients’ transactions. She advises domestic and foreign companies, both public and private, on their M&A, divesture and capital raising activities. In her private equity practice, Shevaun represents institutional investors in their primary, secondary and co-investments in alternative investment funds as well as sponsors in their fund formation matters.

Shevaun’s expertise includes cross-border and domestic transactions in a wide range of industries. Select recent private equity and M&A experience includes:

• Vista Equity Partners in its:
  • acquisition of Risk Control Technologies, Inc., through its portfolio company, Duck Creek Technologies
  • US$350 million investment in Assent Compliance
  • acquisition of Power Factors Holdings
  • acquisition of Athena Software and its product, Penelope, a leading case management software solution
  • US$430 million sale of Upserve Inc. to Lightspeed POS Inc.
  • acquisition of QuickMobile by Cvent Inc.
  • acquisition of Obero Technologies Inc. by Xactly Corp.
  • US$4.4 billion take private acquisition of DH Corp.
• Olympus Partners in its:
  • sale of Rise Baking to Platinum Equity and Butterfly Equity
  • acquisition of Wonder Brands Inc.’s pies business, through its portfolio company, Rise Baking
  • acquisition of Rise Baking
• City Capital Ventures in its:
  • asset sale of a portfolio of Pizza Hut franchised quick service restaurants
  • acquisition of Taco Bell franchisee business from Sundance Group
  • acquisition of Burger King and Pizza Hut franchisee business from Redberry Group
• Novacap in its:
  • acquisition by its portfolio company, Spectrum Health Care of Amika
  • acquisition of the business of Spectrum Health Care
• Gryphon Investors in its:
  • investment in Caylent
  • acquisition of Fishbone Analytics, Inc. and Iceberg Networks
• Ares Management L.P. in the acquisition of Convergint Technologies, a leading global independent security integrator
• GI Partners in the acquisition of Insurity, Inc.
• ACON Investments in its acquisition of Raymond O’Neill & Son Fisheries et Suncoast Seafood
• Peak Rock Capital in its acquisition of Rochester Midland Canada Corporation
• Ironbridge Equity Partners in its acquisition of Kore Outdoor Inc.
• Sixth Street Growth in its minority investment in Clio as part of US$900 million Series F funding round
• Fairfax Africain its strategic transaction with Helios Holdings Limited 
• Salford Group, a portfolio company of GenNx360 Capital Partners, in its definitive agreement to be acquired by Linamar Corporation for C$260 million
• Altius Renewable Royaltiesin its strategic partnership with Apollo Infrastructure Funds
• John Bean Technologies Corporation in their definitive agreement to sell AeroTech to Oshkosh Corporation for US$800 million
• Fortive in its acquisition of Intelex Technologies Inc. through its wholly-owned subsidiary Industrial Scientific

Select clients where Shevaun has advised with their fund formation and capital raising, and primary, secondary and co-investments:

• Forthlane Partners, a global multi-family office based in Toronto
• GRI Capital, a Canadian private investment management firm, focused on public and private investments
• Kensington Capital Partners, a Canadian alternative asset manager with offices in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver
• KPS Capital Partners, a U.S. investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds
• Nav Canada Pension Plan, the pension fund of NAV Canada, a privately run, non-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system
• Northleaf Capital Partners, a global private markets investment firm
• StepStone Group, a U.S. investment firm specializing in direct, fund of funds, secondary direct, and secondary indirect investment
• TD Asset Management Inc., a fully integrated North American investment manager

Shevaun is an active member of the Canadian Chapter of PE WIN, CVCA and Women in Private Equity. She is also a volunteer in the Toronto and surrounding community. A past board member of Bereaved Families of Ontario, Shevaun volunteers with BFO and acts as a facilitator to assist parents dealing with the loss of infant children.

She received her LLB from Queen’s University in 1998 and her BA in Political Science from McGill University in 1995.