Mark Brender - International Tax Lawyer

Mark Brender

Partner, Tax

Key Contact: Tax

Key Contact: Private Client Taxation

Contact Information

mbrender@osler.com

tel: 514.904.5777

Office

Montréal

Mark is a tax partner and leads Osler’s tax group in Montréal. He is the past Chair of the Canadian Tax Foundation (Canada’s leading organization for tax professionals) having occupied the office of chair of the Board of Governors of the CTF in 2019. Mark is also co-editor of the Corporate Tax Planning feature of the Canadian Tax Journal published by the CTF. Mark frequently advises on important business transactions and critical tax disputes. His practice is broad based, focusing on domestic and international tax-planning, cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financings and tax dispute resolution. Mark has extensive experience in advising Canadian and foreign multi-national corporations, private equity funds, venture capital funds and privately owned businesses. Mark also has significant expertise in advising private family enterprises and family offices on succession and estate planning.

Mark is recognized as one of Canada’s preeminent tax lawyers. He was named "Lawyer of the Year" for 2019 by Best Lawyers in Canada and he is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer in Chambers Global, Lexpert, The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and The Lexpert Guide to Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada, International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers, Best Lawyers in Canada for Corporate Tax, Trusts & Estates, among others. Furthermore, he has been recognized as an Academician by The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law.

Mark is a frequent speaker and author having published numerous papers on a range of topics including corporate tax, tax litigation and estate planning.  Mark has the distinction of being awarded the Douglas J Sherbaniuk distinguished writing award for his paper “Subsection 55(2): Then and Now” delivered at the 2012 annual CTF conference. He is also currently editor-in-chief of the Corporate Groups & Structures Journal. 

  • Prospector Capital Corp.

    Prospector Capital Corp. in its business combination with LeddarTech for US$ 348 million

  • Mergers and Acquisitions/Arrangement Transactions

    • General Motors Co. in its US$650 equity investment in Lithium Americas Corp.
    • Nasdaq in its acquisition of Metrio
    • L Brands in its separation of Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret Canada
    • Circle Cardiovascular Imaging in its strategic investment from Thoma Bravo
    • BBH Capital Partners in its $120 million investment in Synex Group insurance
    • Deerfield Specialty Papers in connection with the sale of Glassine Canada to Nordic Paper Holding
    • Fresche Solutions in its acquisition by American Pacific Group
    • Bristol Myers Squibb in its acquisition of Formation Biologics Inc. (Forbius)
    • TPG in its submission of a stalking horse bid for Cirque du Soleil’s assets in partnership with Fosun, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Investissement Québec
    • Eurazeo in its equity investment in Herschel Supply Co.
    • Smooch Technologies Holdings ULC  in its acquisition by Zendesk, Inc
    • L Brands with its sale of the La Senza business to Regent LP
    • EMcision Limited in its sale to Boston Scientific Corporation
    • Nasdaq, Inc. in connection with the acquisition of its Public Relations Solutions and Digital Media Services by West Corporation
    • Luxury Retreats International Inc. in connection with its acquisition by Airbnb
    • Pandora in its acquisition of TicketFly Inc.
    • Dalcor Pharma in its $200 million of Series A and B preferred share financings
    • TPG Capital LP in connection with its recent agreement to form a partnership (with Fosun, Caisse de Dépôt and Guy Laliberté) and to acquire the Cirque du Soleil (the largest private equity deal in Quebec in 2015)
    • Blockstream Corporation in its seed round financing
    • DAVIDsTEA in its Initial Public Offering and Listing on the NASDAQ
    • Canadian counsel to H.I.G. Growth Partners, LLC in connection with its strategic investment in ConvertStar Incorporated dba Go2mobi
    • MEGA Brands, in connection with its US$460 million acquisition by Mattel
    • DataWind Inc., in connection with its initial public offering and listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange
    • Pure Energies Group Inc., a U.S. and Canada residential solar industry leader in the critical area of web-based customer acquisition, in relation to its sale to NRG Energy, Inc., a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of approximately $10 billion
    • POSCO of Korea and China Steel Corporation of Taiwan in their $1.1 billion investment in ArcelorMittal Mines Canada’s iron ore mine business

     

    Corporate Finance

    • McCall MacBain Foundation in the establishment of a $200 million scholarship fund for studies at McGill
    • Inocucor Technologies Inc. in its Series B financing led by TPG Alternative and Renewable Technologies Partners, L.P.
    • Canadian counsel to the initial purchasers in connection with the secondary private placement by CDP Capital d'Amérique Investissements Inc., a subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, of $305 million convertible unsecured subordinated debentures of Quebecor Inc.
  • Find More

  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory : Recognized in Corporate Tax
  • Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business: Recognized in Tax
  • Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Business Lawyers: Recognized in Tax
  • Chambers High Net Worth - Canada: Recognized in Private Wealth Law
  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Recognized in Corporate Tax; Québec’s top corporate tax lawyers in 2021; Estate & Personal Tax Planning - Estate & Tax Planning
  • The Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada: Recognized in Corporate Tax
  • The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada: Recognized in Corporate Tax
  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Recognized in Trusts and Estates; Tax Law
  • Legal 500: recognized as a Recommended Lawyer, Tax
  • International Tax Review: Recognized as a Tax Leader
  • Who’s Who Legal: Recognized in Corporate Tax - Advisory, Tax - Controversy, Recognized in Private Client (International), Tax - Advisory, Tax - Controversy; Private Client (Canada), Corporate Tax
  • Who's Who Legal Thought Leaders: Global Elite: Recognized in Private Client; Corporate Tax

  • The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law (recognized Academician)
  • Canadian Tax Foundation (member of its executive committee)
  • International Fiscal Association (member of council)
  • Association de planification fiscale et financière (APFF)
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Association du Barreau du Québec

Mark is a frequent author and speaker on tax matters including the following:

  • Mark is editor-in-chief of Thomson Reuter’s the Corporate Structures and Groups Journal, a journal devoted to the tax aspects of structuring and restructuring corporations and other business entities (1999-present).
  • Mark is on the editorial board of the Personal Tax and Estate Planning Journal published by Thomson Reuters.
  • Corporate Distributions, CBA Tax Law for Lawyers, June 2021.
  • A New Age of Transparency, STEP 2020 Speakers' Series, September 2020.
  • Section 55, Osgoode LLM Advanced Corporate Tax Topics II, August 2020.
  • Section 55: The Never-Ending Story, 71st Annual Tax Conference of the Canadian Tax Foundation, 2019.
  • Misrepresentation and Gross Negligence Penalties, 33rd Annual Senior Tax Practitioners' Institue, October 2019.
  • Potpourri of Recent Developments and Topical Tax Issues, Provence Conference, September 2019.
  • Corporate Distrubutions, Canadian Bar Association, May 2019.
  • Estate Planning and Trusts – Tax on Split Income, Canadian Tax Foundation, May 2019.
  • CRA liability for abusive audit, Cidel Provence Conference, September 2018.
  • Tax Law For Lawyers - Corporate Distributions, Canadian Bar Association, Niagara-on-the-Lake, May 28, 2018.
  • Introduction to Estate Planning, Clerks of the Tax Court of Canada, Ottawa, March 7, 2018.
  • Importance of Paid-Up Capital, Queen's University Law School, February 5, 2018.
  • Butterfly Spin-off, Transactions Queen's University Law School, February 5, 2018.
  • Selected Recent Developments of Interest to Estate and Trust Practitioners, STEP Montreal, January 11, 2018.
  • Recent Developments and Selected Issues in Taxation, Accoutants Study Group, December 12, 2017. 
  • Rectification and Other Equitable Remedies Post-Fairmont/Jean Coutu, 31st Annual Senior Tax Practitioners' Institute, Langdon Hall, October 25-27, 2017.
  • Tax Planning Using Private Corporations: Analysis and Discussion with Finance - Surplus Stripping, Canadian Tax Foundation, July 18, 2017.
  • CBA Tax Law for Lawyers: Corporate Distributions, June 5, 2017.
  • Montreal Senior Tax Practitioners: Subsection 55(2) – Recent CRA Views and Practical Examples, February 23, 2017.
  • “New” Section 55 & Butterfly Reorganizations – Practical Examples to Identify Challenges and Opportunities, Canadian Tax Foundation, February 10, 2017.
  • Practitioners’ Forum Annual CTF Conference Report 2015, 1:1-23.