News and Updates | Lavery Lawyers

August 8, 2023

Lavery involved in the construction of the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge

Following a qualification process, the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable du Québec (MTMD) issued a call for tenders in 2022 for the construction of the new Île-aux-Tourtes bridge pursuant to the project delivery method known as design-build-finance (DBF). Since this was a DBF, the financing of this project had to be included in the proposals made by the selected candidates. Lavery represented the successful consortium made up of Dragados Canada Inc., Roxboro Excavation Inc. and Construction Demathieu & Bard Inc. Our role required expertise in the following areas: (a) Governance and corporate law (b) Project financing (banking and securities) (c) Public procurement (d) Construction law (e) Commercial agreements (f) Taxation Lavery represented the consortium from the call for proposals to the financial close, including the drafting phase leading up to the awarding of the contract to the consortium. The financing was the most complex part of this transaction. Under the hybrid approach retained for that project, a major credit facility to be granted by a bank syndicate had to be set up, as well the private placement of two tranches of bonds. This involved adjusting the rights and obligations of creditors on both sides within a sophisticated intercreditor agreement. The financing also required parent company guarantees, including from French and Spanish corporations, which required us to find common ground to accommodate the typical requirements of a North American financing and the specific corporate and commercial features applicable in France and Spain. To meet this challenge, we put together a multidisciplinary team, divided up the work in accordance with our professionals’ diverse expertises, and dedicated a team member exclusively to interactions with the MTMD, its lawyers and the issuers of performance bonds typical for this kind of projects. Sound project management practices were essential to the success of this team effort. It is a privilege for Lavery to have participated in this essential project allowing the people of Quebec to obtain a new bridge linking the regions of Montérégie and Montréal. The Lavery team was led by Josianne Beaudry, Nicolas Gagnon, Édith Jacques, David Tournier and André Vautour, and included Véronik Bonneville-Pesant, Katerina Kostopoulos, Jean-François Maurice, Joseph Gualdieri, Siddhartha Borissov-Beausoleil, Alexandre Turcotte, Luc Pariseau, Charles Hugo Gagné, Mickaël Pageau, Jean-Vincent Prévost-Bérubé and Yohann Lévy.

Lavery assists Fancamp Exploration Ltd. in a joint venture agreement with Platinex Inc.

On March 13, 2023, Fancamp Exploration Ltd. (Fancamp) officially announced that it had entered into a joint venture agreement with Platinex Inc. (Platinex) to further explore and promote certain gold mining properties located in Ontario and owned by the two entities. The transaction involved Fancamp transferring its Heenan Mallard and Dorothy mining properties to South Timmins Mining Inc. (Goldco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Platinex, in exchange for shares representing 25% of Goldco's issued and outstanding shares and a 1% royalty on the properties to Platinex. The transaction also included a shareholder agreement providing for the governance of Goldco's activities. Fancamp subscribed for a number of shares representing 9.5% of Platinex's issued and outstanding shares. Lavery was privileged to represent Fancamp in this important mandate led by Jean-Paul Timothée and Alexandre Turcotte. -- Fancamp is a growing Canadian mineral exploration corporation dedicated to its value-added strategy of advancing its priority mineral properties through exploration and innovative development. The corporation owns numerous mineral resource properties in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, where it mines chromium sector, strategic rare-earth metals, gold, zinc, titanium and other resources. To learn more about Fancamp, go to: https://www.fancamp.ca

A new associate joins Lavery

Lavery is pleased to welcome Alexandre Turcotte to its Montréal office. He works primarily in corporate finance law, mergers and acquisitions and securities. Alexandre is joining the Business Law group. He works primarily in mergers and acquisitions, securities and corporate finance law. In his practice, he has represented and advised private companies and public institutions for significant business transactions and operations. "I decided to join Lavery to specialize my practice in business law and to develop my skills at a firm of excellence that offers great opportunities to young lawyers. But it was really the enthusiasm and passion of my future colleagues that really sealed the deal for me."