Osler tops 2015 Canadian M&A rankings

Jan 7, 2016

Osler has for a second consecutive year been ranked #1 for both announced and completed Canadian M&A transactions by Thomson Reuters in its 2015 year-end league table results.    

According to Thomson Reuters, 2015 was the strongest year on record for worldwide M&A activity, which totalled US$4.7 trillion, a 42% increase from comparable 2014 levels.  There was US$279 billion of deal activity involving Canadian entities in 2015, up 37% from 2014, with the increase driven by foreign outbound deal-making by Canadian strategic acquirors.  

Highlights of Osler’s 2015 Thomson Reuters rankings include:

• #1 law firm for Canadian announced deals (by value) with US$77 billion in total transaction value represented by 87 deals

• #1 law firm for Canadian completed deals (by value) with US$66 billion in total transaction value represented by 78 deals

Osler’s league table rankings for 2015 also include:

• Ranked by Mergermarket as the #1 law firm for Canadian announced deals (by value) and the #2 firm (by deal count) with US$102 billion in total transaction value represented by 91 deals

• Ranked by Bloomberg as the top Canadian law firm for Canadian announced deals (by value) and the #2 firm (by deal count) with US$57 billion in total transaction value represented by 111 deals

• Ranked by Bloomberg as the #2 law firm for Canadian mid-market transactions up to $500 million (by both value and deal count) with US$6.7 billion in total transaction value represented by 100 deals

• Ranked by Bloomberg as the #2 law firm for Canadian mid-market transactions up to $250 million (by value) and the #3 firm (by deal count) with US$3.2 billion in total transaction value represented by 90 deals

• Included as one of only two Canadian law firms in Bloomberg’s global mid-market rankings

With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver and New York, Osler is consistently ranked as one of the top M&A law firms in Canada.  Our roles on domestic, cross-border and international transactions include advising public companies, private companies, private equity sponsors, emerging companies and start-ups, global conglomerates, pension funds, sovereign funds, and financial advisors.  Osler’s notable transactions in 2015 include:

• Canadian Oil Sands Limited in its defense against Suncor Energy Inc.’s unsolicited take-over bid valued at $6.6 billion

• BMO Financial Group in its acquisition of General Electric Capital Corporation’s Transportation Finance Business

• Emera Inc. in its pending US$10.4 billion acquisition of TECO Energy Inc.

• TPG in its acquisition of Cirque du Soleil

• Canadian Natural Resources Limited in its sale of certain royalty interests to PrairieSky Royalty Ltd for $1.8 billion

• Calloway REIT in its $1.16 billion acquisition of SmartCentres

• Valeant Pharmaceuticals in its friendly bids to acquire Salix Pharmaceuticals for US$15.8 billion

• Royal Bank of Canada in its US$5.4 billion acquisition of City National Corporation

• Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. in Legacy’s $1.5 billion acquisition by Crescent Point Energy Corp.