Background
Ken Atlas is a partner working in our Montréal and Toronto offices, and is the National Leader of the firm's Financial Services Group. Ken was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1981 and to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1988. He graduated from the National Program of McGill University Law School in 1980.
Areas of Practice
Ken specializes in banking, secured and unsecured financing, corporate restructuring and bankruptcy and insolvency, and venture capital.
Rankings and Recognitions
· Recognized in the 2012 edition of Chambers Global - The World's Leading Lawyers for Business (Banking & Finance)
· Selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada® 2012 (Banking and Finance; Insolvency and Financial Restructuring)
· Recognized in the 2012 edition of PLC Which lawyer? (Finance)
· Martindale-Hubbell BV® Distinguished™ 4.4 out of 5 Peer Review Rating
· Recognized in the 2011 Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Banking and Financial Institutions; Project Finance)
· Recognized in The 2012 Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (Banking and Financial Institutions)
· Recognized in the Lexpert® 2011 Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada (Banking)
· Recognized in Who's Who Legal: Canada 2011 (Banking)
Professional Experience
· Ken's mandates have included:
- Representing a syndicate co-led by Royal Bank of Canada and The Toronto-Dominion Bank in connection with a $1,400,000,000 financing of Bell Canada
- Representing Citibank, The Toronto-Dominion Bank and others in connection with the financing of the takeover of BCE Inc. (in excess of $30,000,000,000).
- Representing a syndicate led by Royal Bank of Canada in connection with a $600,000,000 financing of Dollarama Inc.
- Representing a syndicate led by Bank of Montréal in connection with the financing of a privately held multinational group.
- Representing a syndicate led by The Toronto-Dominion Bank in connection with the $90,000,000 project financing of a biomass power plant in Québec.
- Representing an important stakeholder in connection with Abitibi Consolidated's CCAA proceedings.
- Representing Bear Stearns in connection with its financing of the takeover of Reuters PLC by Thomson Corp.
- Representing Société Générale (Canada) in connection with the insolvency of Quebecor World Inc.
- Representing Lehman Brothers in connection with its financing of the Alliance-Atlantis takeover.
- Representing John Hancock Life Insurance Company in the monetization of a $100 million sponsorship agreement entered into with Bell Canada, to provide Bell with advertising prominence in the home arena for the Montréal Canadiens hockey team. Parties included the Canadiens, the NHL, Molson Breweries and many others.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by Royal Bank of Canada in providing credit facilities to Videotron Ltée in an original amount in excess of $1,500,000,000.
- Representing a syndicate led by CIBC in connection with a $415 million credit facility for Montréal-based CGI Inc., a major information technology firm.
- Advising a syndicate of Canadian banks led by Bank of Montreal in providing $1.125 billion acquisition financing for the purchase of Brazilian brewer Kaiser by Molson Breweries.
- Representing a syndicate of Canadian banks and Canadian branches of foreign banks led by Bank of Montreal in setting up a $3.3 billion credit facility to finance the repurchase by BCE Inc. of a 20% indirect interest in Bell Canada from SBC Communications.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by Bank of America in connection with the financing of Sun Media including an operating facility of Cdn$75 million and a US$230 million term loan.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by The Bank of Nova Scotia in providing credit facilities to BCE Inc. in an amount of $1.8 billion.
- Representing I.U.GO Ventures in connection with numerous venture capital investments.
- Representing The Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with certain derivative and monetization transactions.
- Representing CSL Equity Investments Limited in connection with certain private equity investments.
· Frequently speaks at conferences concerning lending and restructuring matters.
Professional and Community Activities
· Adjunct professor at McGill University teaching Bankruptcy and Insolvency since 1985. From 1982 to 1994, he also taught Business Law at McGill University's Faculty of Management.
· Member of the boards of several private companies
· Member of the Canadian Bar Association
· Member of The Insolvency Institute of Canada
· Member of the American Bankruptcy Institute
· Member of Insol International
· Member of the International Bar Association
speaking engagements and Publications
· Presentation on using CBCA Arrangements as an alternative to bankruptcy and CCAA proceedings at the annual meeting of the IIC (Insolvency Institute of Canada), St-Johns, Newfoundland, September 2011
· Presentation on new players in insolvency at the CAIRP (Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals) annual meeting in August 2011, Manoir Richelieu, La Malbaie
· "DIP Super-Priorities and the Secured Creditor's Dilemma", Annual Review of Insolvency Law 2009 (Carswell)
· "Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency: DIP Financing, Automatic Stays and Personal Jurisdiction" (1997) 12 Nat. Creditor/Debtor Rev. 61-66
· "Consensual Protection for the Prepaying Buyer in Quebec" (1985-86) 11 Can. Bus. L.J. 267
· "The Race to the Swiftest? Entitlement to the Possession of the Property of a Bankrupt" (1985) 56 C.B.R. (N.S.) 217
· "The Vendor of Movables in Quebec : His Protection and Privileges" (1982) R. du B. 597
(Also at Toronto, ON Office)