Sylvain Cossette is a partner specializing in mergers and acquisitions, securities, and corporate and cross-border transactions.

He has recently led a number of significant transactions, Cominar’s proposed take-over of Alexis Nihon, representation of La Senza in its acquisition by Limited Brands (Victoria’s Secret), representation of Eric Molson and Pentland Securities in Molson’s US$6 billion merger with Coors; the issuance by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec of $7 billion of commercial paper and $1.5 billion of medium term notes; the merger of CDP Capital Mortgages with MCAP Inc. (with pro forma combined assets being serviced exceeding $23 billion); Deutsche Bank’s $850 million rights offering as part of the ongoing restructuring of Air Canada; the representation of Gaz de France in respect of its Canadian activities, including a proposed $2.7 billion liquefied natural gas project (Rabaska) and Noverco (the controlling shareholder of Gaz Métro); the takeover by Bell Canada of Nexxlink Technology; the divestiture by ITM Entreprises S.A. of its significant holdings in RONA inc.; the strategic restructuring by SITQ inc. of its shareholder arrangements in Bentall Capital; and the issuance by Université du Québec à Montréal of $150 million of its 40 year notes and the $145 million initial public offering and subsequent unit and convertible debenture offerings by the Alexis Nihon Real Estate Investment Trust.

Sylvain’s past significant transactions include the US$1.4 billion acquisition of St. Laurent Paperboard Inc. by Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation and the $6.1 billion hostile take-over of Le Groupe Vidéotron Ltée by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Québecor Inc.

Sylvain has also recently chaired three conferences sponsored by the Canadian Institute and Insight in the areas of emerging trends in Canadian securities laws and income trusts, and is a member of a securities regulation senior practitioners consultation committee on securities legislative matters.

Sylvain is recognized in the Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory as a consistently recommended practitioner in corporate and commercial, corporate finance and securities and mergers and acquisitions law and one of the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (compiled by LEXPERT/American Lawyer). Sylvain is also listed as a leading corporate mergers and acquisition lawyer in Chambers Global’s The World’s Leading Lawyers. He has achieved one of Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rankings and has been named leading lawyer by IFLR 100 in the field of banking.

Sylvain received his B.C.L. from McGill University in 1981 and his LL.M. in Taxation from New York University in 1983. He has been a partner since 1991. He is a member of the Quebec and Canadian Bar Associations.

Fully bilingual, he represents both French and English-speaking clients.

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