Paul Stepak, Toronto

About Paul

Paul is the National Practice Group Leader for the Blakes Tax group. Paul practises primarily in the areas of corporate and partnership income taxation. He advises on domestic and cross-border income tax planning, including public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, corporate reorganizations, financings, capital markets transactions and the taxation of mutual funds, partnerships and other investment vehicles. Cross-border inbound structuring is a significant component of Paul's practice.

Paul also has experience assisting clients with the resolution of Canadian federal and provincial tax audits and appeals at all stages.

Select Experience

Recent representative matters include advising:

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. on its US$2.5-billion sale of its renewable energy business to LS Power
Advent International Corporation on its US$6.3-billion acquisition of Nuvei Corporation, a Canadian fintech payment platform
J.M. Smucker on its US$305-million divestiture of its Voortman brand to Second Nature Brands, a CapVest Partners portfolio company
HPS Investment Partners LLC on its C$1.9-billion acquisition of Chorus Aviation Inc.’s regional aircraft leasing business
BCE Inc. on the C$4.7-billion sale of its ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to Rogers Communications Inc.
CyberGuard, a portfolio company of Atlantic Street Capital, on its acquisition of Control Gap
Gauge Capital on its strategic growth investment in AGT Robotics
Citation Group (a portfolio company of HG Capital and KKR) on its acquisitions of HRdownloads and Agendrix Inc.
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners on its agreement, together with Blue Wolf Capital Partners, to acquire Logistec Corporation
BlackRock Infrastructure on its acquisition of Environmental 360 Solutions
Sea Electric Inc. on its merger with Exro Technologies Inc.
Sycamore Partners on its acquisition of the Canadian business of Lowe’s Companies
ABC Technologies Holdings on its initial public offering, subsequent take-private transaction led by Apollo Global and Oaktree Capital, and its acquisition of Windsor Mold Group Technologies
Audax Capital on its sale of LifeMark Health to George Weston Limited, and acquisition of Thermogenics Inc.
Cerberus Capital Management in connection with its sale of ABC Technologies Holdings Inc.
Sagen MI Canada Inc. (formerly Genworth MI Canada Inc.) on its C$1.6-billion acquisition by Brookfield Business Partners L.P.
Torstar Corporation in connection with its acquisition by NordStar Capital L.P.
Pet Valu, a portfolio company of Roark Capital, in connection with its initial public offering, as well as numerous acquisitions
Schlesinger Group, a portfolio company of Gauge Capital, on its acquisition of Methodify and AskingCanadians
Litera, a portfolio company of Hg, on its acquisition of Kira Systems and its industry-leading machine learning contract analysis technology
Barentz International, a portfolio company of Cinven, in connection with its acquisition of Pestell Nutrition
Electrical Components International, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, in connection with its acquisition of Promark Electronics
Hg on its acquisition of CaseWare International and Prophix
Equinix, Inc. on its C$1.04-billion acquisition of 25 data-centre facilities across Canada from BCE Inc.

Awards & Recognition

Paul is recognized as a leading tax practitioner in the following publications:

Chambers Global Legal Guide (Tax Law)
Chambers Canada Legal Guide (Tax Law)
Lexpert's Leading 500 Cross-Border Lawyers: A Guide to Doing Business in Canada (Corporate Tax)
Lexpert Special Edition: Insolvency and Restructuring
Lexpert Special Edition: Finance and M&A
International Tax Review's World Tax (Tax Leader)
Lexology Index: Corporate Tax (Advisory)
Lexology Index: Canada (Corporate Tax)
The Legal 500 Canada (Tax)
The Best Lawyers in Canada (Tax Law)
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Corporate Tax)

Professional Activities

Paul is a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors of the Canadian Tax Foundation.

He has written articles and spoken at different venues regarding cross-border and domestic tax issues. He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the International Fiscal Association and the Canadian Tax Foundation.

Paul is a past chair of the Executive Committee of the Tax Section of the Ontario Bar Association. Paul is a past country reporter for Canada for the 2015 International Fiscal Association Congress in Basel, Switzerland.