Jay Swartz is a partner in the Corporate/Commercial, Corporate Finance & Securities, Financial Restructuring & Insolvency, Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, Structured Financing, and Public-Private Partnerships practices. He has a diverse commercial practice with particular emphasis on banking, debt financings, financial product development, structured finance, corporate restructurings, private equity funds and private company acquisitions.

Jay has been involved with numerous corporate restructurings, representing borrowers, lenders, investors, boards and receivers/monitors. He has been active in the establishment of numerous domestic and international funds for private equity investment in a variety of sectors, including mezzanine debt, venture capital, technology investment, distress investing and buy-out funds. In addition, Jay has been involved in all aspects of merchant banking transactions dealing with acquisitions, multi-tiered financings, equity ownership, corporate governance and employee incentive and compensation arrangements. This involved a co-ordination of the multi-disciplinary team of legal specialists at the firm as well as other advisors.

Jay, together with other partners at the firm, has been instrumental in the development of the asset-backed securities business in Canada, having developed a variety of products to be sold to short and medium-term investors and to provide financing for mortgage receivables, lease receivables, government obligations, automobile loans, mutual fund deferred charges, car rental revenue and similar financial obligations.

In the financial products area, Jay has worked with bankers and investment dealers to develop products designed to strip and repackage corporate debt obligations, monetize future commodity production, defease corporate debt and provide tax-assisted financing for companies in financial distress. Jay has been involved in Canada's first financings secured by highway toll revenues, airport revenues and funding for school boards. In addition, Jay has been involved in numerous project financings, including several involving public sector assets. He has significant experience in bank regulatory matters and the regulation of financial institutions generally. A significant portion of this work has been related to the role of foreign banks in the Canadian banking system.

Representative Work

• Acted as counsel to Newshore Financial and the conduits sponsored by it in connection with the restructuring of $7 billion of assets in such conduits as part of the recent restructuring of $32 billion of non-bank sponsored asset-backed commercial paper.
• Acted as counsel for the monitor of Quebecor World Inc. in connection with restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
• Acted as counsel for Dura Automotive Inc. in connection with its restructuring under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
• Acted for the Province of Ontario in connection with the formation of a fund of funds for investment in venture capital.
• Acted for Sleep Country Canada Income Fund in connection with its sale to private equity investors.

Recognition

• Recognized in Chambers Global's The World's Leading Lawyers in the banking and finance, restructuring/insolvency and corporate/M&A categories and has been ranked in that publication since 2001. In 2008 his peers commented that he "is a strategic and intelligent lawyer who can do everything well".
• Annually recognized in the Canadian Legal LEXPERT^® Directory as being a most frequently recommended banking law practitioner, as well as being consistently recommended in the areas of asset/equipment finance and leasing, corporate and commercial, corporate finance and securities, insolvency and project finance, and repeatedly recommended in the areas of asset securitization, derivatives and mergers and acquisitions.
• Included in the 2009 LEXPERT^®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, the 2009 LEXPERT^® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers, LEXPERT^®/Thomson's Guide to Canada's 100 Most Creative Lawyers and IFLR 1000’s Guide to the World's Leading Business Law Firms.
• Recognized as a leader in capital markets law and as a highly recommended corporate finance, restructuring and insolvency, M&A and joint ventures lawyer in Global Counsel 3000.
• Recognized in Law Business Research's 2009 The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers as a foremost banking and project finance legal practitioner.
• Recognized in The International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers and Who's Who of Capital Markets Lawyers, 2009 as a leading practitioner.
• Cited in Euromoney Legal Media Group's Guide to the World's Leading Structured Finance and Securitization Lawyers.
• Cited in the PLC Which lawyer? Yearbook as a highly recommended lawyer for corporate/M&A and restructuring and insolvency, as well as being listed as a recommended lawyer in the banking and finance and the private equity/venture capital areas.
• Cited in the 2009 Best Lawyers in Canada in the areas of banking, corporate, insolvency & financial restructuring, M&A and project finance.

Teaching Engagements

Jay has acted as an instructor in the Advanced Business Law Workshop which is taught to a selected group of third year law students at Osgoode Hall Law School. Jay has been a guest lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Western Ontario Law School and the York University Faculty of Business Administration.

Speaking Engagements

Jay has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars on a variety of topics, including bank financings, asset securitization, financial product development, swap and derivative transactions, corporate governance, shareholder arrangements and insolvency matters.