Pension Funds

Domestic and International Investments

Blakes also has one of the leading pension fund practices in Canada. Our full-service Pension Fund team consists of multidisciplinary specialists who provide market knowledge and experience to Canada’s leading pension funds as well as other domestic and international investors, managers and financial institutions that interact with pension funds. This diverse range of experience is a key advantage when advising on the laws, strategic considerations, potential risks, regulatory framework and other issues that may arise with Canadian and international investments.

Our pension fund and institutional investor clients rely on us to advise, negotiate and assist at every phase of the investment process and in post-transaction monitoring. We combine our domestic and cross-border knowledge and expertise with an ability to think creatively and strategically when working with our clients to evaluate and pursue each opportunity.

Our broad transaction experience (third-party funds, co-investments and direct investments) includes advising many of Canada’s large and mid-size pension funds such as:

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan
Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Pension Plan
Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System
Ontario Pension Board
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
PSP Investments
Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan

We also advise many other public- and private-sector pension funds, investors, managers and financial institutions, both in Canada and internationally.

Core Elements of Our Services:

Private equity investments
Private debt investments (including fixed income, mezzanine, mortgage and other similar funds)
Corporate finance (including securities lending, securities borrowing and complex derivative arrangements)
Capital markets regulatory compliance
Existing and new commercial agreements and arrangements
Domestic and cross-border tax
Industry-sector regulations
Employment and labour
Real estate and land acquisitions and divestitures
Infrastructure, construction and procurement
Environmental compliance
Insurance
Dispute resolution and international arbitration

Structuring, Administration and Regulation

The Blakes Pensions, Benefits & Executive Compensation group is known in Canada and internationally as among the very best in the business.

Our work with several large Canadian pension funds has given us broad practical experience advising on plan governance protocols that meet legislative and regulatory requirements; strategic review of board of directors and committee structures, including the drafting of bylaws; and submissions to governments and regulators regarding amendments to legislation governing plans in many key areas, including investment regulation, governance, funding requirements and plan design.

Our team can also assist in designing compensation arrangements in ways that balance business objectives with tax, trust and securities law compliance and other legislative disclosure requirements for private- and public-sector employers, including pension funds. We provide legal opinions on a wide range of issues, such as plan amendments, legislative compliance, plan mergers, governance issues and fiduciary responsibilities.

Core Elements of Our Services:

Corporate services
Board of directors and committee structures
Governance and fiduciary duties
Enterprise risk management
Information technology, security and privacy
Employment and labour
Ongoing legislative compliance
Dispute resolution

Recent Experience

Our Pension Funds group has experience serving Canadian pension funds and institutional investors on all manner of investments in Canada and internationally. An example of our experience includes the following:

Pattern Energy Group Inc. on its approximately US$6.1-billion proposed all-cash acquisition by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Public Sector Pension Investment Board and the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Board in their proposed C$1.7-billion acquisition of AltaGas Canada Inc.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on an agreement with IFM Investors and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation to become equity partners in GCT Global Container Terminals Inc.
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan on multiple acquisitions across Europe of large-scale build-to-suit logistics development properties.
U.K. pension claimants in successfully obtaining a landmark "modified pro rata" allocation of US$7.3-billion raised from the sale of the Nortel Networks global business units and patent portfolio.
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan or its subsidiaries on the joint venture investment in a C$287.5-million new 515-suite apartment building in Chicago known as “The Coast”; the C$240-million purchase of 50 per cent interests in Quinte Mall and Devonshire Mall; the acquisition of a 55 per cent interest in the Nexus 40-13 International Business Centre, Montréal, Quebec; the C$137-million purchase of Marlborough Mall, Calgary, Alberta; and the C$140-million purchase of Lansdowne Place, Peterborough, Ontario.
H2O Power LP, a joint venture between the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and BluEarth Renewables Inc., on its C$400-million private placement to obtain credit facilities secured by its interest in hydroelectric facilities in Ontario.
Ontario Pension Board and Workplace Safety Insurance Board on its C$1.9-billion purchase of an undivided 50 per cent interest in a 12-building portfolio of office buildings in downtown Vancouver, including the CF Pacific Centre regional shopping mall.
DP World Limited on its joint venture with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec to create an investment platform focused on investing in ports and terminals globally.
Oxford Properties Group in relation to the sale of a 50 per cent interest in a 4.2-million-square-foot portfolio of high-quality office properties in downtown Toronto and Calgary to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for C$1.175-billion.
BluEarth Renewables Inc., a portfolio company of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, in connection with the acquisition of the development rights to three hydroelectric dams, known collectively as Narrows Inlet.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, as Canadian counsel, on its acquisition of 40 per cent of Glencore Agricultural Products (Glencore Agri), valuing Glencore Agri at US$6.25-billion.
Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan in connection with a series of logistics developments in Europe.
Borealis Transportation Infrastructure Trust, a subsidiary of OMERS Administration Corporation, in connection with a secured term loan facility for the Detroit River Rail Tunnel provided by a syndicate of lenders.
A consortium composed of Placements CMI Inc., Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Fonds de solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (F.T.Q.), Fonds Manufacturier Québécois II s.e.c. and Investissement Québec in connection with the financing of its acquisition of Manac Inc., a North American leader in the design and manufacture of specialty trailers.
MidOcean Partners and PSP Investments in the US$560-million sale of the Noranco business to Precision Castparts Corp.
Ontario Pension Board on its C$960-million purchase of an undivided 30 per cent interest in the six-building 4.5-million-square-foot Toronto-Dominion Centre in downtown Toronto, together with an office development site at 16 York Street in downtown Toronto.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on their infrastructure fund called Wolf Infrastructure Inc.

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Pension Funds

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