Lawyer Profile Detail

Biography

Frédéric Cotnoir is a partner in our Business Law Group in Montréal. He practises in the areas of securities and corporate law, concentrating on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and public financings.

Recent corporate finance matters Mr. Cotnoir has recently been involved with include:

• advising the National Bank of Canada in connection with the renewal of its base shelf prospectus and numerous public offering of medium-term notes and preferred shares;
• advising the National Bank of Canada and NBC Capital Trust in connection with the initial public offering of $225 million of Trust Capital Securities;
• advising the National Bank of Canada and NBC Asset Trust in connection with the initial public offering of $400 million of Trust Capital Securities and a follow-up offering of $350 million;
• advising the Agents (led by TD Securities Inc. and RBC Capital Markets) in connection with the establishment of a MTN program for PSP Capital Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board) and the private placement of $600 million medium-term notes;
• advising the Underwriters (led by Scotia Capital) in connection with a public offering of $100 million preferred shares of Transcontinental Inc.;
• advising the Underwriters (co-led by RBC Capital Markets and Merrill Lynch) in connection with the $205-million initial public offering of Mecachrome International Inc.;
• advising Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. in its $115-million initial public offering and $59-million private placement;
• advising Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. in its $80.5-million public offering of extendible convertible debentures;
• advising Innergex Power Income Fund in its $56-million subscription receipts offering in the context of the acquisition of a power-generating facility;
• advising Colabor Income Fund in its $58-million initial public offering, its $25-million subscription receipts and $50-million convertible debenture offering in the context of the acquisition of Summit Food Service Distributors Inc., and its $40-million subscription receipt in the context of the acquisition of Gestion Bertrand & Frères Inc.;
• advising the Royal Bank of Canada and RBC Subordinated Notes Trust in connection with the initial public offering of $1 billion of Trust Subordinated Notes;
• advising the Agents (led by BMO Capital Markets) in connection with the $800-million initial public offering of BMO Subordinated Notes Trust; and
• advising ConjuChem Biotechnologies Inc. in its $120-million common shares offering;

Recent M&A matters Mr. Cotnoir has recently been involved with include:

• advising Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. in connection with its strategic combination with Innergex Power Income Fund by way of plan of arrangement;
• advising Colabor Income Fund in connection with its conversion and the concurrent acquisition of tax losses;
• advising GFI Solutions Group Inc. in connection with the acquisition of Fortsum Business Solution by way of statutory amalgamation;
• advising Canadian Helicopters Income Fund in connection with the disposition of a fleet of helicopters and aviation assets to Ornge;
• advising Addenda Capital Inc. in connection with its merger with The Co-operators Group;
• advising Hydro-Québec in connection with the sale of its interests in HQI Transelec Chile S.A., the largest electricity transmission company in Chile;
• advising Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. in connection with the acquisition of Innergex II Income Fund;
• advising Natcan in connection with the sale of its shares of Sears Canada to Sears Holdings;
• advising CGI Group Inc. in connection with Bell Canada’s take-over bid of Nexxlink Technologies Inc.;
• advising LoJack Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Boomerang Tracking Inc. by way of plan of arrangement;
• advising Cambior Inc. in connection with the acquisition of Séquoia Minerals Inc. by way of statutory amalgamation;
• advising Falconbridge Limited in connection with the acquisition of Novicourt Inc. by way of take-over bid;
• advising Société Générale de Financement in connection with the sale of its ownership in Intragaz Inc.; and
• advising ConjuChem Inc. in connection with the monetization of its tax losses by way of plan of arrangement.

Mr. Cotnoir received his BA in civil law from the University of Sherbrooke in 1997 and his bachelor’s degree in common law (BCL) from Queen’s University in 1999. He also received a master’s degree (MSc) in law and accounting from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in 2003. While at the University of Sherbrooke and the Québec Bar School, he was awarded the Albert Leblanc Medal and the Québec Bar Medal (Sherbrooke Centre).

He was called to the Québec bar in 1999.