Background
Fred Enns is a partner in our Montréal office. Mr. Enns was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1990, the New York State Bar in 1988 and the B.C. Law Society in 2000. He graduated from the National Program of McGill University Law School in 1987 with degrees in Common Law and Civil Law. He is fluently bilingual in English and French.
Areas of Practice
- Mr. Enns is the regional leader of our Securities and Capital Markets Group and a member of the Corporate Commercial Group. He is also head of the Focus Group on Corporate Governance.
Professional Experience
- Mr. Enns is a Corporate Finance lawyer acting for Underwriters and Issuers in public financings, and merger and acquisition transactions as well as acting on hedge fund, private equity fund and mutual fund formation and offerings.
- He also advises on
- securities regulatory compliance,
- continuous disclosure obligations,
- dealer and adviser registrations,
- corporate governance issues,
- private M&A, and
- other corporate commercial transactions.
- His transactional experience includes:
- Acting for the syndicate of underwriters on several public offerings of Innergex Power Income Fund and Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.;
- Acting for Miranda Technologies Inc., a global developer and manufacturer of hardware and software for the television broadcast industry, on its $156,000,000 Initial Public Offering and Secondary Offering of common shares;
- Acting for a mutual fund group in a transaction involving replacement of the trustee and custodian of the funds, as well as the service provider, and amendment and restatement of the mutual fund declaration of trust;
- Acting for various hedge fund and private equity fund managers in the formation of such funds, securities offerings and registration issues;
- Acting for Dundee Securities Corporation as Underwriter in a $18 million private placement of special warrants and subsequent short form prospectus offering of shares and warrants of Procyon Biopharma Inc. in conjunction with the acquisition of Cellpep S.A.;
- Acting for Télébec Limited Partnership, part of the Bell Nordiq Income Fund group of telecommunication operators, in several private placement offerings of debentures under trust deed;
- Acting for Dundee Securities Corporation as Underwriter in a long form prospectus offering of common shares and warrants by Junex Inc., a Québec based oil and gas operator;
- Acting for RBC Dominion, Scotia Capital and other syndicate members in a shelf prospectus of BCE Inc. for a $1 Billion Medium Term Note program;
- Acting for RBC Dominion, Scotia Capital and other syndicate members in several short form prospectus or offering memoranda offerings of Commercial Mortgage–Backed Bonds issued by a subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placements du Québec;
- Advising on preparation of Annual Information Forms, information circulars, other continuous disclosure documents and various corporate governance matters for public issuers;
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators;
- Member of the American Bar Association and the International Developments Sub–Committee on Corporate Governance of the Business Law Section;
- Member of the International Bar Association and its Securities Law Committee;
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association.
Professional Activities
- Mr. Enns has worked closely with ICSA to develop the Director Education and Accreditation Program co–founded by ICSA and BLG;
- Mr. Enns has given various conferences and seminars on Corporate Governance and Securities Law issues, including:
- ICSA Chartered Secretaries Canada – 2008 Symposium on Good Governance Practices – Risk, Uncertainty and Effective Governance – “Recent Developments in Corporate Law” Toronto, December 5, 2008;
- Director Education and Accreditation Program “Corporate Governance Module” in Toronto (February and September 2008), Vancouver (September 2008); Montreal (October 2008); Ottawa (October 2008) and Calgary (November 2008);
- CSCS The Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries – Essentials of Corporate Governance: A Comprehensive Framework for Effective Governance and Emerging Issues, La Malbaie (Québec), September 10, 2007;
- ICSA Chartered Secretaries Canada – 2006 Symposium on Corporate Effectiveness – Going Beyond Compliance The Evolution of Governance in Organizations Toronto, December 7, 2006;
- Canadian Institute – The New Regulation 45-106: The impact of the prospectus and registration exemptions on private placements in merger and acquisition transactions – Mergers and Acquisitions, Montréal, October 5, 2006 ;
- Canadian Institute – The Passport System Regulation 11-101 Montréal, January 26, 2006;
- ICSA Chartered Secretaries Canada – Corporate Governance, A Delicate Balance, The Nuts and Bolts of Corporate Governance, Toronto, December 7, 2005;
- CSCS The Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries – Corporate Governance, Staying on Top, Banff, September 12, 2005;
- ICSA Chartered Secretaries Canada – Directors and Management: Managing the Managers, Montréal, May 3, 2005;
Publications
- Co–editor of What Directors Need to Know: Corporate Governance Participants Study Guide Chartered Secretaries Canada, 2008;
- Contributed, together with Charles Marquette, to the article “Québec’s New Growth Stock Plan” by Michael Carin published in the Report on Business Magazine, May–June 2005;
- “Going Private Transactions” published in the Montréal Business Magazine, December 2004.
