Background
Ken Atlas is a partner working in our Montréal and Toronto offices. Mr. Atlas was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1981 and to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1988. He graduated from the National Program of McGill University Law School in 1980.
Areas of Practice
- Mr. Atlas specializes in banking, secured and unsecured financing, corporate restructuring and bankruptcy and insolvency, and venture capital.
Professional Experience
- Named by LEXPERT as a leading lawyer in its Canadian Legal Directory in both the “Banking” and “Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring” practice areas, as well as in the LEXPERT/American Legal Media’s “The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada”.
- Named by LEXPERT as one of Canada’s top 100 industry experts (for Banking and Financial Services, out of a total of 7 lawyers named in this industry category (October, 2006)).
- Named by “Best Lawyers” as one of Canada’s leading insolvency lawyers (National Post, October 25, 2006).
- Recommended by Chambers and Partners as a Banking and Finance lawyer in Chambers Global “The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2006”.
- Mr. Atlas’ mandates have included:
- Representing Citibank, The Toronto-Dominion Bank and others in connection with the financing of the takeover of BCE Inc. (in excess of $30,000,000,000).
- Representing a syndicate led by the Toronto-Dominion Bank in connection with the $90,000,000 project financing of a biomass power plant in Québec.
- Representing Bear Sterns in connection with its financing of the takeover of Reuters PLC by Thomson Corp.
- Representing Lehman Brothers in connection with its financing of the Alliance-Atlantis takeover.
- Representing the John Hancock Life Insurance Company in the monetization of a $100 million sponsorship agreement entered into with Bell Canada, to provide Bell with advertising prominence in the home arena for the Montréal Canadiens hockey team. Parties included the Canadiens, the NHL, Molson Breweries and many others.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by Royal Bank of Canada in providing credit facilities to Bell Canada, in an amount of $2,000,000,000.
- Representing a syndicate led by CIBC in connection with a $415 million credit facility for Montréal-based CGI Inc., a major information technology firm.
- Representing the Société Générale (Canada) in connection with the insolvency of Québec World Inc.
- Advising a syndicate of Canadian banks led by Bank of Montréal in providing $1.125 billion acquisition financing for the purchase of Brazilian brewer Kaiser by Molson Breweries.
- Representing a syndicate of Canadian banks and Canadian branches of foreign banks led by bank of Montréal in setting up a $3.3 billion credit facility to finance the repurchase by BCE Inc. of a 20% indirect interest in Bell Canada from SBC Communications.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by Bank of America in connection with the financing of Sun Media including an operating facility of Cdn$75 million and a US$230 million term loan.
- Representing a syndicate of lenders led by The Bank of Nova Scotia in providing credit facilities to BCE Inc. in an amount of $1.8 billion.
- Representing I.U.GO Ventures in connection with numerous venture capital investments.
- Representing The Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with certain derivative and monetization transactions.
- Representing CSL Equity Investments Limited in connection with certain private equity investments.
- Frequently speaks at conferences concerning lending and restructuring matters.
Professional and Community Activities
- Adjunct professor at McGill University teaching Bankruptcy and Insolvency since 1985. From 1982 to 1994, he also taught Business Law at McGill University’s Faculty of Management.
- Secretary and a member of the Board of Directors of St. George’s High School
- Member of the boards of several private companies
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of The Insolvency Institute of Canada
- Member of the American Bankruptcy Institute
- Member of Insol International
- Member of the International Bar Association
Publications
- Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency: DIP Financing, Automatic Stays and Personal Jurisdiction (1997) 12 Nat. Creditor/Debtor Rev. 61-66
- Consensual Protection for the Prepaying Buyer in Quebec (1985-86) 11 Can. Bus. L.J. 267
- The Race to the Swiftest? Entitlement to the Possession of the Property of a Bankrupt (1985) 56 C.B.R. (N.S.) 217
- The Vendor of Moveables in Quebec: His Protection and Privileges (1982) R. du B. 597
