Brian Facey is the Co-chair of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group. He is one of Canada's top regulatory lawyers. He is also the relationship partner for a number of the Firm's national and international clients.

Brian has advised clients in hundreds of legal matters, including merger transactions, criminal cartel cases, and distribution and advertising matters under the Competition Act. He has also represented many foreign investors, including state-owned investors and foreign governments, under the provisions of the Investment Canada Act and the new State-Owned-Enterprise Guidelines, which regulate the acquisition of foreign control of Canadian businesses. Brian has secured approvals for foreign investors in many of Canada's key industries, including the energy, mining, transportation and automotive sectors. He was a founder and past co-chair of the Foreign Investment Review Committee of the National Competition Section of the Canadian Bar Association, which represents the views of the Canadian bar in relation to investments by non-Canadians.

Brian is recognized as one of Canada's leading lawyers in every major lawyer-ranking service:

• Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business
• The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada
• Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers
• Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Competition/Antitrust Lawyers
• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
• PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook
• Lexpert magazine's "Top 40: 40 and Under 40"
• The Best Lawyers in Canada
• The Lexpert Guide to the Leading U.S./Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada
• Global Competition Review: A Guide to the World's Leading Competition Law and Economics Practices

Most recently, London-based The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2009, published by Law Business Research, referred to Brian as "one of the absolute best in the country right now," and Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2010 noted that he has "'razor-sharp business acumen and always sees the best angle to tackle the matter'."

Brian is co-author of a leading treatise on Canadian competition law entitled Competition and Antitrust Law: Canada and the United States, LexisNexis, 2006. He has testified before the Canadian Senate and parliamentary committees on proposed amendments to the Competition Act. He was also appointed by the Commissioner of Competition as an external consultant to the Competition Bureau in relation to the recent amendments to Canada's competition laws.

Brian has been involved in many of Canada's most significant legal cases. Recent matters that are of public record include:

• Baker Hughes International in connection with its US$5.5-billion acquisition of BJ Services Company
• TUI Travel PLC and Sunwing Travel Group Inc. with respect to the acquisition of First Choice Canada Inc. (an affiliate of TUI Travel PLC) by Sunwing
• Agrium Inc. in connection with its offer for CF Industries Holdings, Inc.
• Suncor Energy Inc. with respect to its C$43.3-billion merger with Petro-Canada
• Merck & Co., Inc. with respect to its US$41.1-billion merger with Schering-Plough Corporation
• Aluminum Corporation of China with respect to its US$19.5-billion proposed investment in Rio Tinto plc
• Labatt Brewing Company Limited with respect to its C$200-million acquisition of Lakeport Brewing Income Fund, before the Competition Bureau, the Competition Tribunal, the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal
• Agrium Inc. in connection with its US$2.65-billion acquisition of UAP Holding Corp.
• Canetic Resources Trust in connection with its C$15-billion strategic business combination with Penn West Energy Trust
• XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. with respect to its US$13-billion merger with Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
• ConocoPhillips in connection with its US$40-billion acquisition of Burlington Resources Inc.
• Yellow Pages Group in its C$2.6-billion acquisition of SuperPages in the phone directories business
• Superior Propane in Canada's leading merger efficiencies case before the Competition Tribunal and the Federal Court of Appeal
• Enerplus Resources Fund, Acclaim Energy Trust and Paramount Resources Ltd. in their C$1-billion acquisition of oil and gas properties from Chevron
• Rhône-Poulenc in the international vitamin price-fixing case

Professional Achievements

Brian is on the executive committee of the Canadian Bar Association's National Competition Law Section. He is active in the American Bar Association - Antitrust Section and the International Bar Association.

Brian has spoken to audiences in Canada and abroad, and has written articles for the Antitrust Law Journal, the Antitrust Bulletin, Antitrust Magazine, World Competition, the Competition Policy Record, Global Competition Review and Fordham Corporate Law Institute.

Brian has been an adjunct professor of competition law at one of Canada's leading law schools for more than a decade. He is also a private-sector adviser to the International Competition Network.