Justin Drake How to pronounce this name. Partner | Toronto

Recent representative transactions include advising:

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Mackenzie Financial Corporation in connection with its joint venture with Great-West Lifeco Inc. and their acquisition of a 49.9% non-controlling interest and 70% economic interest in Northleaf Capital Partners

• Mackenzie Financial Corporation on its acquisition of Greenchip Financial Corp.

• Kognitiv Corporation on its combination transaction with Aimia's Loyalty Solutions business

• Sagard Holdings on its strategic investment in Grayhawk Investment Strategies

• FLIR Systems, Inc. on its US$200-million acquisition of Aeryon Labs Inc.

• The Toronto-Dominion Bank on its acquisitions of artificial intelligence firm Layer 6 Inc. and asset management firm Greystone Capital Management

• Celestica on its acquisitions of Atrenne Integrated Solutions and Impakt Holdings

• A private equity firm in connection with the establishment of a dental service organization and its continuing consolidation of specialist dental and orthodontist practices across Canada

• OmniTRAX on its sale of the Hudson Bay Rail Line and the Port of Churchill

• Sagard Holdings on its joint venture with Fairfax and US$575-million acquisition of the business of Performance Sports Group

• Transamerica/Aegon on the C$600-million sale of its Canadian business to Wilton Re, a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

• Questcor Pharmaceuticals on its C$100-million acquisition of BioVectra

• BTG plc on its C$200-million acquisition of the Targeted Therapies business from Nordion

• Private equity transactions, including MidOcean Partners in the US$560-million sale of the Noranco business to Precision Castparts Corp; KingSett Capital and AIMCO in their $2-billion acquisition of ING Summit Industrial Fund; GPS Products on the sale of its classroom furniture business to Ironbridge Equity Partners; VRG Capital in its acquisitions of Jones Brown and Pearson Dunn and subsequent disposition to Arthur Gallagher; Lone Star Funds in its US$700-million acquisition of the North American gypsum division of Lafarge; Advent International in its acquisition of Distribution International; and Sheridan Capital Partners on the disposition of Canadian Orthodontic Partners

Venture Capital

• Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board as lead investor in the C$375-million Series D financing of ApplyBoard

• Koru LP, a venture foundry created by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, on various matters including the founding of Elovee, Fyld, Vayda and ReturnBear

• The controlling shareholder of Wealthsimple in respect of its investments in Wealthsimple, including in respect of the C$750-million financing round led by Meritech and Greylock, which involved a C$500-million secondary sale of shares by the controlling shareholder

• McCain Foods on its investments in TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture Limited, Simulate Labs and Fiddlehead Technologies

• Koho Financial on various matters, including investment rounds led by Portag3 and Drive Capital

• IGM Financial on its investments in Personal Capital and subsequent disposition to Empower

• Various emerging companies in connection with financing transactions and other matters

• The Best Lawyers in Canada 2025 (Mergers and Acquisitions Law)

• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023 (Corporate Mid-Market)

Admitted to the Ontario Bar – 2010
LLB, Dalhousie Law School – 2009
BComm, Saint Mary's University – 2006