Michael Hickey, Toronto

About Michael

Michael advises clients in a wide variety of capital markets transactions and securities regulatory matters, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private financings, private equity and other business transactions, with an emphasis on the representation of public and private issuers and the investment banks advising such companies. He acts on transactions involving a wide range of industry sectors, including technology, financial institutions and financial services, health care, mining, power generation and consumer products. He provides ongoing advice to a variety of public issuers regarding corporate governance (including board advisory and special committee mandates) and continuous disclosure obligations and also provides strategic advice to clients on environmental, social and governance considerations in connection with financings, sustainable investment transactions and ongoing disclosure and reporting obligations.

Michael spent over a year in the Firm's New York office, where he focused on Canada/U.S. cross-border M&A as well as corporate finance and private equity transactions, while providing Canadian corporate advice to both Canadian and foreign clients conducting business or offerings in Canada. Michael recently completed serving as a member of the Firm's Student Committee.

Before joining Blakes, Michael worked in the legal department of one of the Firm's foreign investment banking clients.

Select Experience

Recent examples of Michael's experience include:

Mergers and Acquisitions

ECN Capital Corp. in connection with the sale of its portfolio company, Service Finance Company, LLC, to Truist Bank for proceeds of approximately US$2.05-billion and the subsequent payment of a C$7.50 per share (US$1.5-billion, in aggregate) special distribution to ECN Capital's common shareholders by way of return of capital
ECN Capital Corp. in connection with Skyline Champion's C$185-million strategic PIPE investment in ECN Capital by way of issuance of common shares and mandatory convertible preferred shares and the establishment of a strategic joint venture captive finance company in connection with such investment
Advising ABC Technologies Holdings Inc. in connection with its take-private transaction led by Apollo Global and Oaktree Capital
Advising Cerberus Capital Management in connection with its sale of its majority stake in ABC Technologies Holdings Inc. to funds managed by Apollo Global and the sale of the remainder of its stake to funds managed by Oaktree Capital
Leading the Blakes team advising Cornerstone Building Brands Inc. on its acquisition of MAC Metal Architectural
Pattern Energy Group Inc. on its approximately US$6.1-billion all-cash acquisition by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Element Financial Corporation on its "butterfly" spin-off transaction by way of plan of arrangement pursuant to which Element separated into two new public companies: Element Fleet Management Corp. and ECN Capital Corp.
RR Donnelley in connection with its spin-offs (by way of distribution) of each of LSC Communications, Inc., a publishing and retail-centric print services and office products company, and Donnelley Financial Solutions, Inc., a financial communications and data services company
Element Financial Corporation, in 2015, on its C$8.6-billion cross-border acquisition of GE Capital's North American and ANZ fleet operations; in 2014, on its US$5-billion cross-border acquisition of the vehicle fleet management services business of PHH Corporation; in 2013, on its C$570-million acquisition of the assets comprising GE Canada's Vehicle Fleet Leasing business
Talison Lithium Limited on its C$728-million proposed acquisition by Rockwood Holdings Inc. and the subsequent C$848-million successful competitive acquisition by Chengdu Tianqi Industry (Group) Co., Ltd.
FAM REIT in connection with its responsorship transaction with Slate Capital and subsequent acquisition of seven GTA office properties from Slate Capital for C$190-million
Leading the Blakes team advising Tophatmonocole Corp. on its acquisition of Aktiv Learning (101 Edu Inc.) and related acquisition financing
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (formerly Biovail Corporation) in its US$8-billion merger with U.S. public company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International

Corporate Finance

Leading the Blakes team advising ABC Technologies Holdings Inc., a manufacturer of proprietary technology and advanced manufacturing process for automobile components, and Cerberus Capital Management, as selling shareholder, on ABC Technologies' initial public offering
Leading the Blakes team advising a syndicate of underwriters in connection with theScore Gaming & Media's Canada/US cross-border public offering, representing theScore's US IPO
Leading the Blakes team advising ABC Technologies Holdings Inc. in connection with an aggregate acquisition financing of approximately C$370-million in equity through a private placement from, and concurrent rights offering backstopped by, Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital Management, to fund its acquisition of dlhBowles, Inc.
Open Text Corporation on its US$585-million cross-border equity offering and concurrent US$250-million offering of senior unsecured notes to partially finance its acquisition of Dell EMC's Enterprise Content Division
Leading the Blakes team advising League, Inc. a leader in healthcare platform technology powering next-gen healthcare consumer experiences, in connection with its Series B-1 and Series C financings, convertible note offerings and bank financings
Element Financial Corporation in respect of its C$2.8-billion public offering of subscription receipts, extendible debentures and preferred shares for acquisition financing opportunities, the proceeds of which were ultimately used to partially fund its acquisition of GE Capital's North American and ANZ fleet operations
Element Financial Corporation in respect of its C$1.42-billion public offering of subscription receipts, extendible debentures and preferred shares to partially finance its US$1.4-billion acquisition of PHH Corporation's vehicle fleet management services business
Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets, as underwriters, in connection with Concordia Healthcare's US$520-million public offering of common shares (representing its US IPO) and US$790-million private placement offering of senior notes to partially fund its acquisition of Amdipharm Mercury Limited
Pattern Energy Group in connection with its US$352-million U.S./Canada cross-border initial public offering, its follow-on U.S./Canada cross-border public offerings (treasury and secondary) totalling approximately US$1.1-billion and its private placement offering of US$225-million convertible senior notes
Advising the underwriters and agents in connection with Choice Properties REIT's initial C$400-million equity and C$600-million debenture offerings
IAMGOLD in connection with its US$650-million offering of high-yield notes
Advising a Schedule I Canadian bank client with respect to its first Canada/U.S. multi-jurisdictional disclosure system (MJDS) public offering of US$1.5-billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes and subsequent public offerings totalling approximately US$5-billion under the MJDS platform

Awards & Recognition

Michael has been recognized as a leading lawyer by the following publications:

The Legal 500 Canada – 2024–2025 (Capital Markets)
The Best Lawyers in Canada 2024 (Securities Law)
Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business 2024 (Capital Markets: Debt & Equity)
Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers 2024 – Independently Rated Lawyers (As nominated by senior in-house counsel)
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2024 (Corporate Finance & Securities)
IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial and Corporate Law Firms – 2023 (Capital Markets: Debt)
Euromoney's Rising Stars Expert Guide 2022 (Capital Markets, Corporate/M&A/Private Equity)
Euromoney's Rising Stars Awards Americas 2020 (Capital Markets)