Background
Don Bird is the Regional Managing Partner of our Vancouver office. Don was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 1988. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto Law School, receiving his Bachelor of Laws in 1987. Prior to that, he received his Bachelor of Commerce, with honours, from the University of British Columbia in 1984.
Areas of Practice
· Don practises in the area of financial services law, acting for lenders and borrowers, with an emphasis on secured transactions.
Rankings and Recognitions
· Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada® 2012 (Banking and Finance)
· Recognized in The 2012 Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (Banking and Financial Institutions)
· Recognized in the 2011 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Banking and Financial Institutions)
· Recognized in the Lexpert® 2011 Guide to the Leading U.S./Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada (Banking)
Professional Experience
· Don regularly acts for Canadian financial institutions in connection with their commercial and corporate loans to both public and private borrowers. Don also acts for borrowers. Many of these loans are syndicated and are often cross-border. Don's practice also includes regulatory advice to financial institutions, agency work on structured finance transactions, as well as general corporate commercial transactions.
Professional and Community Activities
· Co-editor of the British Columbia Personal Property Security Act Practice Manual, published by The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia
· Adjunct professor at University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law from 1993 to 1999
· Instructor for the Professional Legal Training Course of the British Columbia Law Society regularly since 1993
· Written on such subjects as the British Columbia Personal Property Security Act, the Securities Transfer Act, the Canadian Bank Act and inspection of corporate records
· Past Chair of the Banking Law Subsection of the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association
Representative Transactions
· Lehman Brothers - acted on behalf of Lehman Brothers in British Columbia in connection with the CDN$1.936 billion syndicated financing of the purchase of Intrawest by Fortress Investment Group, LLC
· Canfor Pulp Income Fund - acted for Bank of America in structuring, negotiating, and documenting a CDN$75 million syndicated revolving credit facility to Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership
· Pope & Talbot Ltd. - acted for Pope & Talbot in refinancing a US$250 million term facility and a US$75 million operating facility
· Norske Skog Canada Limited - acted for TD Securities in connection with a CDN$700 million syndicated credit facility to Norske Skog Canada Limited to acquire Pacifica Papers in a transaction valued at approximately CDN$1 billion
· Taiga Building Products Ltd. - acted for Taiga Building Products Ltd. in connection with their CDN$200 million cross-border syndicated asset backed revolving credit facility with GE Canada Finance and General Electric Capital Corporation
· ID Biomedical Corporation - acted for ID Biomedical Corporation in financing a US$100 million loan facility provided by Shire BioChem Inc.
· Tolko Industries Ltd. - acted for Tolko Industries Ltd. in connection with its syndicated credit facilities to finance the acquisition of Riverside Forest Products Ltd. at a purchase price of approximately CDN$377 million
· Sun Gro Horticulture Income Fund - acted for Sun Gro in obtaining a cross border CDN$85 million senior security credit facility with Bank of Montreal
· HSBC Bank Canada - acted for HSBC Bank Canada in the issuance of CDN$200 million of mortgage backed securities
· Sterling Shoes Limited Partnership - acted for Sterling Shoes Limited Partnership in connection with loan facilities from the Bank of Montreal totalling CDN$23.5 million which closed contemporaneously with the creation of the Sterling Shoes Income Fund
· Art In Motion - acted for Art In Motion in connection with CDN$60 million credit facilities from HSBC Bank Canada which closed contemporaneously with the creation of the Art In Motion Income Fund
· CMN International Inc. - acted for CMN International Inc. in refinancing its US$35 million credit facilities with First Service Corp.
· TGS North American Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) - acted for TGS North American REIT in connection with a US$18 million cross-border revolving credit facility which closed contemporaneously with a CDN$141.8 million public offering for the acquisition of interests in U.S. and Canadian properties
· Cross-Border Transaction - acted for a Canadian chartered bank and a United States national bank in connection with a CDN$55 million cross border credit facility to an industrial manufacturing company
· Franchise Lending - acted for various Canadian chartered banks in connection with their loans to franchisors