Business graph with arrows trending downwards
Business graph with arrows trending downwards
Business graph with arrows trending downwards

CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

McMillan LLP is one of Canada’s leading corporate insolvency and restructuring law firms. We have an outstanding track-record of achieving successful outcomes for our clients in a broad range of financially challenging situations. Our highly skilled team includes top ranked lawyers known for their expertise and creative problem-solving, allowing McMillan to deliver the highest standards of transactional and structuring leadership and commercial advocacy. We have an earned reputation as thought-leaders in the industry.

We regularly work with financially challenged companies, boards of directors, Canadian and US financial institutions, lending syndicates, bondholders, investors, ad hoc and official creditors’ committees, court-appointed officers and major customers and suppliers of insolvent companies to deliver comprehensive solutions to the most challenging problems. We pride ourselves on working with clients to lead consensus around creative and practical solutions, while remaining strong advocates for their interests.

A focus on client needs is the foundation of the restructuring group’s service model. Client goals drive how we build the right legal team and leverage our own expertise and that of McMillan’s industry-focused specialists. Our restructuring and insolvency lawyers have led restructurings and distress M&A transactions in the mining, oil and gas, newspaper, paper, packaging products, forestry, consumer products, automotive, manufacturing, real estate, cannabis, advertising and media, biomedical, patent, and trademark and other intellectual property industries.

CROSS-BORDER RESTRUCTURING

In the global economy, businesses and corporate groups often span multiple countries and have capital providers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders with businesses outside of their home jurisdiction. When a business that operates across borders becomes insolvent, the multijurisdictional nature of its business can add unexpected layers of legal and regulatory complexity. McMillan LLP’s restructuring and insolvency team specializes in facilitating corporate cross-border restructuring transactions and proceedings for a variety of stakeholders, with expertise in developing and executing creative and practical cross-border bankruptcy and restructuring strategies and solutions. The breadth of McMillan’s cross-border expertise in other specialized areas of business law, such as tax, public markets, private and public debt financing, and derivatives, offers our clients the comprehensive legal advice critical to optimal cross-border structuring.

McMillan’s corporate restructuring professionals work with clients to structure joint and parallel insolvency filings involving Canada and other countries and coordinate Canadian proceedings with US Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 cases. We frequently collaborate with international law firms in cross-border insolvency cases, leveraging our excellent relationships with bankruptcy and insolvency practitioners in the US and other jurisdictions. We have advised on Canadian and cross-border deal structures, sales processes, negotiation of sale terms and procuring court approval orders for distressed M&A transactions, recapitalization and refinancing transactions, including structure and documentation for existing and distressed debt facilities, and represented US creditors’ committees in Canadian proceedings.

CHALLENGED COMPANIES & DEBTOR MANDATES

Whatever the source of financial difficulty, enterprises require unbiased assistance from a restructuring law firm that understands the complicated landscape of legal options, risks, strategies and challenges facing a company in distress. McMillan’s restructuring and insolvency lawyers have experience representing and advising companies and boards of directors at all stages of restructuring, both in the boardroom and the courts. We know how to lead restructurings and develop and implement creative and pragmatic solutions tailored to our client’s most pressing needs. Our lawyers work closely with other restructuring professionals, stakeholders and investors, including financial advisors, investment bankers, equity and other fund managers, and in-house and foreign counsel, to deliver a seamless and coordinated approach to a company’s restructuring.

McMillan LLP works regularly with financially challenged companies, boards of directors, Canadian and US financial institutions, lending syndicates, bondholders, investors, ad hoc and official creditors’ committees, court-appointed officers and major customers and suppliers of insolvent companies. We advise on the formulation, approval and implementation of restructuring plans and arrangements, negotiate with key stakeholders and stakeholder groups, execute restructuring and downsizing initiatives to address troubled debt, and advise on asset sales effected through a restructuring proceeding.

Primary Contacts

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Adam C. Maerov

Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency

Waël Rostom

Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency

Tushara Weerasooriya

Partner, Restructuring & Insolvency | Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee

Deals and Cases

Insights (10 Posts)View More

Featured Insight

Two-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Illegal Invasion of Ukraine: New Sanctions Designations and Expansion of Export Prohibitions

To coincide with the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Canada announced new sanctions and financial reporting obligations.

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Feb 28, 2024
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Environmental Obligations Trump Lenders: The Trend Continues

Re Mantle Materials Group, Ltd continues a recent trend in Alberta in which environmental remediation obligations are found to have a super priority.

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Nov 8, 2023
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Update! Court Ordered Charges Can Also Prime Crown Claims in BIA Matters

Canadian courts have now confirmed the priority of claims between Statutory Deemed Trusts and Court-Ordered Charges.

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Nov 1, 2023
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Why Enforcement on Personal Guarantees Can Be so Challenging for Creditors

Realizing on real estate to enforce a court award is notoriously hard. A recent Ontario court decision has stymied creditors' efforts to fine-tune the process.

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Jun 29, 2023
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Creditors May Invalidate Debtor Fraudulent Transfers Occurring Long Before Any Debtor-Creditor Relationship Established

A creditor may undo a transaction as a fraudulent conveyance even if it was not a creditor at the time the debtor made the transfer.

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Jun 20, 2023
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Secured Lending in Canada: A Guide for U.S. Lenders

A guide to secured lending in Canada; summarizes regulatory matters, tax, security, insolvency and restructuring issues in Canada.

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Jun 1, 2023
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Environmental Priorities in Insolvency Proceedings and the Impact on Lenders: Alberta Court Broadens Redwater Principles

Alberta case Qualex v 12-10 Capital develops line of cases at the intersection of environmental protection and bankruptcy and insolvency law in Canada.

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May 24, 2023
Featured Insight

Trends and Developments in Cryptocurrency: What the Experts are Seeing in the Tracing, Seizing and Safeguarding of Digital Assets, and Why So Much Value is Being Lost

Together with Lowenstein Sandler, join McMillan for a series of engaging panels with industry leaders who will share valuable insights into the newest crypto trends and developments, with a particular emphasis on the below areas of risk.

Details
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Featured Insight

April 2023 Update: Amendments to the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Regulations Provide Increased Deal Certainty for Commercial Real Estate Industry

The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (the “Act”) and regulations (the “Regulations”) came into force on January 1, 2023.

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Apr 4, 2023
Featured Insight

Arbitration Clauses Should be Respected, Most of the Time: Supreme Court of Canada Shifts Focus Away From Single Proceeding Model for Insolvencies in Rendering Arbitration Clause Inoperative

The SCC has provided a framework on when arbitration clauses should be rendered inoperative in order to promote efficiency in an insolvency proceeding.

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Dec 5, 2022