Borden Ladner Gervais has expanded its presence in the thriving Calgary market with the hiring of two banking and finance partners from the defunct Heenan Blaikie. The recruitment is a strategic move for BLG in booming Calgary, which benefits from Alberta's low tax rate compared to other provinces and has overtaken Vancouver and Montreal in terms of deal volume.
Edward Wooldridge and Neal Wang join BLG as counsel in Calgary. Wooldridge advises lenders and borrowers in syndicated, asset-based, acquisition, and inventory financings, often with a cross-border component. His track record includes advising an energy producer in Canada in a $300 million high-yield issuance, helping an energy sector client obtain $135 million in credit facilities from a syndicate of banks, and representing a Canada-based multinational energy producer in obtaining $390 million of credit facilities from another syndicate.
In a discussion with IFLR1000, Wooldridge described BLG as one of the top Canadian law firms with a national financial services platform.
“BLG has considerable strength across the entire country, particularly in the four key Canadian city centers of Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver. There are strong regional firms in Toronto but there are very few national firms that have the depth and expertise of BLG across the country in this area,” Wooldridge told IFLR1000.
Wooldridge commented on a broad ongoing shift in the financial institution sector away from a loose philosophy with respect to outside counsel, and toward more selective criteria.
“An ongoing trend with the large Canadian financial institutions is that they are becoming more rigid with respect to who their preferred or approved counsel are for the purposes of representing them on lending transactions. Many institutions are not only narrowing down their lists but are also now establishing more formal directives with their employees on which firms they may use for particular types of transactions,” he said.
Over recent years, Wooldridge has observed a growing emphasis, on the part of law firms, on being not only competent service providers, but also strong business partners, in order to continue to get lucrative work from the larger financial institutions in Canada.
“Reciprocity in the form of making solid introductions to a firm’s corporate clients, to having a firm utilize cash management facilities at a financial institution, to having a firm’s partners conduct their personal banking at a financial institution are becoming increasingly important factors for such groups when distinguishing between which firms continually get their work,” he commented.
Wang advises lenders and borrowers in syndicated- and non-syndicated lending transactions, often in the energy, mining, technology, retail, and hospitality sectors. His track record includes advising Wells Fargo Foothill Canada in a $125 million credit facility for Synnex Canada Limited, representing Toba Montrose General Partnership in a $470 million syndicated credit facility for the construction of hydroelectric generating facilities, and advising the Royal Bank of Canada on asset-based lending in Canada’s western provinces.
“I’m coming from Vancouver where I started practicing in 1999. From what I see, the lending deal flow and commercial activity in Alberta today is noticeably greater than that of British Columbia, with the exception of certain sectors. I can think of a number of the bankers based in British Columbia who spend a good portion of their time traveling to Alberta in order to source new deals,” Wang told IFLR1000.
Wang said that when meeting banking clients for lunch, he hears repeatedly of a considerable buzz among bankers about BLG’s “bold moves” in the legal market.
“With respect to the resources that a large firm like BLG has, of great importance is its ability to connect lenders with corporate clients. There is a quid pro quo expectation more than ever these days and this dynamic has an impact on how the bankers operate and apportion their legal work,” he added.
Wooldridge holds a LLB from the University of Calgary and a BComm from the University of Western Ontario. Wang earned his LLB from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and his B.A. from the University of British Columbia.