Background
John Godber is a partner at our Montréal office. Mr. Godber was admitted to the Québec Bar in 1989 and is a graduate of the McGill University Law School. He also obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration from Ryerson University andhas followed the In‑Depth Tax Course offered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Areas of Practice
- Mr. Godber is BLG's National Corporate Commercial Practice Group Leader. He specializes in corporate law with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions.
Professional Experience
Mr. Godber's areas of expertise include:
- Advising and participating in public and private company mergers and acquisitions.
- Advising and participating in corporate finance transactions such as private placements and public financings, including initial public offering of securities.
- Advising and participating in corporate reorganizations, international joint ventures, mergers and divestitures for both closely and widely held corporations.
- Mr. Godber is identified by Lexpert as being “Repeatedly Recommended” in his field of practice.
- BV peer review rating from Martindale-Hubble.
Representative Transactions
- Advised The Co-Operators Group Limited in connection with its $306.5 million public acquisition of Addenda Capital Inc.
- Acted for Novell, Inc. in its $205 million purchase of PlateSpin Ltd.
- Acted for the Independent Committee of Trustees of Medisys Health Income Fund in connection with the fund's going private transaction.
- Advised lead underwriters, BMO Nesbitt Burns and CIBC World Markets, in the $115 million initial public offering of securities of Innergex Renewable Energy Inc.
- Acted for the syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Nesbitt Burns on a $56 million subscription receipt offering of Innergex Power Income Fund.
- Advised private equity firm One Equity Partners in connection with its acquisition of the emissions technology business of ArvinMeritor Canada.
- Advised the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in connection with its purchase of rights in an undersea fibre-optic network between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
- Acted for the shareholders of online brokerage firm TradeFreedom Securities Inc. in the sale of the company to The Bank of Nova Scotia.
- Acted for Miranda Technologies Inc., a global developer and manufacturer of hardware and software for the television broadcast industry, on its $156 million initial public offering and secondary offering of securities.
- Advised MAAX Inc. in connection with its $640 million successful public auction and sale process.
- Advised Bell Canada in connection with its acquisition of cable and fibre optic assets in Québec and Ontario
- Advised BMO Nesbitt Burns and TD Securities in the initial public offering of fund units of Innergex Power Income Fund.
- Advised Bell Canada and Bell Nordiq Income Fund in the fund's $326 million initial public offering of units.
Professional and Community Activities
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of Heritage Georgeville Inc.
- Member of the Board of Directors and Vice-President of the Canadian Club of Montréal
- Past Member of the Board of Governors of Lower Canada College and President of its Alumni Association
- Past Member of the Board of Directors of Constance Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre
- Past Member of the Board of Directors and Vice-president of the McGill Society of Montréal
- Past Member of the Board of Directors of the Weredale Foundation
- Prepared papers for, and participated in, various programs and conferences for numerous organizations including the Quebec branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Federated Press, The Canadian Institute, Insight and Canadian Information Technology Law Association including:
- Canadian Institute – Advanced Seminars on Mergers and Acquisitions, October 28, 2004 and October 28, 2005 “Management and protection of confidential information in merger and acquisition transactions”
- Canadian Institute – In-House Legal Counsel conferences, February 23, 2004 and February 16, 2005 – Panel Chair of “Maximizing Relations with Outside Law Firms”
- Canadian Institute – Conference on Income Trusts, March 17, 2005 - “Unitholder Liability”
- Canadian Institute– Mergers and Acquisitions Conference, October 4, 2006 – Co-chair of Conference and presented on “Liability of Directors and Officers in public company mergers and acquisitions”
- Insight Information – Joint Venture Conference, December 6 and 7, 2006 – “Complexities of Foreign Joint Ventures”
- Federated Press – Drafting and Negotiating Business Contracts, May 22 and 23, 2007 – “Securities and Capital Market's Agreements"
- Federated Press – Due Diligence Conferences, November 7, 2007 and April 17, 2008 – “Creating a Due Diligence Framework”
