Background
Sylvie Bouvette is a partner at our Montréal office. Ms. Bouvette was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1986 and is a graduate of the Université de Montréal Law School.
Areas of Practice
- Ms. Bouvette is the regional leader of our Commercial Real Estate Group in Montréal. She represents sellers, purchasers and joint venturers in real-estate transactions and is especially experienced in transactions involving contaminated land.
- She also represents creditors and debtors within the framework of the financing of major real estate complexes.
- She has developed special expertise in the development and financing of hydroelectric projects, wind farms and biomass plants.
- Ms. Bouvette is also the regional leader of the following practice groups in Montréal: Electricity Markets and Oil and Gas.
Professional Experience
- Since 1992, Ms. Bouvette has taken part in the development and commercial implementation of hydroelectric projects and, more recently, of wind farms and has participated in the acquisition of existing projects.
- She was lead counsel in the development and financing in Québec of 6 (six) hydroelectric projects (total capacity of 60 megawatts) and 3 (three) wind farms (total capacity of 304 megawatts). She recently worked on the completion of a wind farm (capacity of 127.5 megawatts) and financing of the project which reached $236,000,000; in that context, she supervised the assembling of lands, the establishment of superficies rights on public and private lands, the delivery of all necessary permits and licenses, the environmental review and negotiations of a power-supply contract.
- She also played a key role in the corporate financing, by a consortium of banks, of the activities of a private producer in Québec.
- Over the past years, she has taken part in all aspects of the industry on behalf of the underwriters in the context of the public take-over in Québec of a private power-producer for an amount exceeding $200,000,000 and the financing relating thereto. She was at the forefront of the financing in excess of $80,000,000 concerning a cogeneration facility.
- Ms. Bouvette has an in-depth knowledge of the drafting of agreements with the ministère des Ressources naturelles et de l'Environnement , various governmental and municipal instances as well as private owners, more particularly in the following contexts: granting of options, establishing superficies rights and lease agreements, implementating leases for the measurement of wind, selling or leasing water rights and river beds, drafting contracts related to the supply of power with Hydro-Québec, emphyteutic leases, conventions with municipalities (more precisely on royalties), management agreements, green credit agreements, deeds of servitude (concerning integration and transport) and agreements on occupied land in the public domain.
- Ms. Bouvette was in charge of developing a chain of more than 25 hotels and/or motels in Québec and a food chain in the province. Very recently, she supervised the implementation in Québec of funds dealing with the development and acquisition of multi-residential properties totaling more than $500,000,000.
- Over the past years, she represented real estate owners in the context of the following acquisition or sales:
- the acquisition and financing in 2005 of two regional shopping centres, the value of which exceeded $800,000,000;
- the acquisition and financing in 2005 of a regional shopping centre together with approximately 15 small local shopping centres, the value of which exceeded $90,000,00;
- the acquisition in 2006 of two shopping centres, the value of which exceeded $57,000,000;
- the sale in 2006 of an undivided interest in an office building in downtown Montreal;
- the acquisition in 2007 of a building belonging to an industrial distribution centre in Ontario, the value of which exceeded $95,000,000;
- the sale in 2008 of office buildings in Alberta, the value of which exceeded $175,000,000.
Professional and Community Activities
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of the Urban Development Institute of Québec
- Member of the Association québécoise de la production d'énergie renouvelable
- Member of the Association de l'industrie électrique du Québec
- Member of our Montréal office's Admissions and Monitoring Committee and Compensation Committee
