Davies

Sarah V. Powell

Sarah Powell is a partner in the Environmental, Aboriginal and Energy practices. She is one of Canada's leading environmental lawyers. Sarah has extensive experience in all aspects of environmental law, including strategic advice on environmental and social impact assessments, environmental approvals, energy approvals, contaminated sites, environmental class actions and aboriginal risk assessments. She is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Environmental Law. Sarah is Past Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Ontario Bar Association and the Vice-Chair of the National Environmental, Energy and Resource Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association.

Representative Work

  • Acted for BHP Billiton in connection with the sale of its diamonds business, comprising its controlling interests in the EKATI Diamond Mine and its Diamonds Marketing operations in Belgium, to Harry Winston Diamond Mines Ltd. for an aggregate cash consideration of US$500 million.

  • Acted for Samsung Renewable Energy Inc. and Pattern Renewable Holdings Canada ULC in hearings before the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal in the successful defence of appeals of the renewable energy approvals for the South Kent 270 MW and Grand Renewable 148 MW wind energy projects.

  • Acted for Hebei Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd. in connection with its strategic investment in Alderon Iron Ore Corp. and its Kami iron ore project.

  • Acted for Hydro-Québec in connection with its $4.75-billion proposed acquisition of substantially all of the assets of New Brunswick Power and that of its affiliates, including hydroelectric, combustion and nuclear facilities.

  • Acted for Deutsche Bank AG, Canada Branch and Manulife Financial Corporation in connection with the establishment of credit facilities to finance the construction and long-term operation by SunE Odessa LP of a 10 MW ground-mount solar project near Kingston, Ontario, which had been awarded a 20-year power purchase contract under Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff Program.

  • Acted for a syndicate of construction and term lenders led by Deutsche Bank AG, Canada Branch, as sole mandated lead arranger, in connection with the establishment of credit facilities to finance the construction and long-term operation by SunE Norfolk Bloomsburg LP of a 10 MW ground-mount solar project near Simcoe, Ontario, which had been awarded a 20-year power purchase contract under Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff Program.

  • Acted for Bayersiche Landesbank, New York Branch in connection with the establishment of a credit facility to finance the construction by SunE Hwy 2 S LP of a 10 MW ground-mount solar project near Kingston, Ontario, which had been awarded a 20-year power purchase contract under Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff Program.

  • Acted for a group of lenders, comprising The Manufacturer's Life Insurance Company, The Canada Life Assurance Company and The Great-West Life Assurance Company, in connection with the $168.5-million non-recourse construction and term project financing for the 49.9 MW Kwoiek Creek run-of-river hydroelectric project located in British Columbia.

  • Acted for a syndicate of underwriters co-led by CIBC World Markets Inc. and Scotia Capital Inc. in a $67.1-million bought deal public offering of trust units of Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust.

  • Acted for a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Genuity and National Bank Financial in connection with the $121-million initial public offering of HealthLease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.

  • Acted for Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, New York Branch in the establishment of credit facilities for the acquisition, construction and operation by Starwood SSM3 Canada L.P., of a 10 MW solar power facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

  • Acted for The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company in connection with the project financing of $167 million credit facilities intended to finance the construction of a 31MW hydroelectric project to be located on Cascade Creek north of Stewart, British Columbia.

  • Acted for Victoria Square Ventures Inc., a subsidiary of Power Corporation, in connection with the creation of Potentia Solar Inc., an independent power producer in Ontario generating electricity through solar-powered energy systems. The other shareholders of Potentia Solar Inc. are MKB Solar Rooftops Inc., an affiliate of MacKinnon, Bennett & Company Inc. and Conundrum Capital Group.

  • Acted for Hydroméga Services Inc. in connection with a bridge financing and project financing provided by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada for the development and construction of four hydro projects on the Kapuskasing River in Ontario developed in partnership with certain First Nations.

  • Acted for George Weston Limited in connection with the acquisition of ACE Bakery Limited in a deal valued at $110 million.

  • Acted for Pattern Energy Group LP in the establishment of its joint venture with an affiliate of Samsung C&T Corporation. The joint venture was formed to develop and operate up to 2,000 MW of wind power generation projects under the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Program and Samsung's Green Energy Investment Agreement with the Government of Ontario. The Green Energy Investment Agreement represents the largest initiative of its kind in the world. Up to 600 MW of wind turbines will be supplied to the Pattern-Samsung joint venture by Siemens Canada, which has announced that it will build Ontario's first blade factory to meet this demand.

  • Acted for Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC in establishing partnership arrangements with Bright Power Inc. for the joint development and financing of rooftop solar energy generation projects under the Ontario Feed-in Tariff Program.

  • Acted for Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, New York Branch in the establishment of credit facilities for the acquisition, construction and operation by Starwood SSM1 Canada Incorporated of 22.352 MW DC solar power facilities in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

  • Acted for BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in connection with its financing of the construction and operation of the run-of-the-river 23.6 MW hydroelectric facility at Umbata Falls in Ontario.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel to BHP Billiton in its unsolicited offer to acquire Rio Tinto in a share exchange deal valued at US$147 billion.

  • Acted for Hollinger Farms No. 1 Inc. and Alton Farms Inc. seeking a declaration that a class environmental assessment process of a proposed land exchange was not properly authorized by Ontario's Environmental Assessment Act.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel for BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and a syndicate of underwriters in the proposed cross-border initial public offering of Photowatt Technologies Inc., a manufacturer and retailer of solar cells and modules.

  • Acted for Access Justice Durham (sponsored by Babcock & Brown, and including PCL Constructors and Johnson Controls), the successful consortium which entered into an agreement to design, build, finance and maintain the Durham Consolidated Courthouse, the first availability payment PPP relating to courthouses in North America and the first project to be completed by Infrastructure Ontario. This project received the 2007 CCPPP Award of Merit for Project Financing.

  • Acted for Canadian Pacific Express & Transport Ltd. in its defence of claims under several leases for contamination at a former terminal facility in Ontario.

  • Acted for Teachers' Private Capital on its acquisition of CFM Corp. in a transaction valued at US$230 million.

  • Acted for Barrick Gold Corporation in the US$250-million structured trade/project financing of its Veladero greenfield gold mine project in Argentina. This deal was selected as Trade Finance Deal of the Year for 2004 in Argentina by Trade Finance magazine and as Americas Mining Deal of the Year for 2004 by Project Finance magazine.

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PUBLICATIONS

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Recognition

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  • Recognized as an outstanding practitioner in the field of Environmental law in Expert Guides' Guide to the World's Leading Women in Business Law.
  • Named Toronto Environmental Law Lawyer of the Year 2012 by The Best Lawyers in Canada®.
  • Recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of Environmental Law by Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business.  
  • Recognized as one of four Canadian Environmental lawyers in the Expert Guides' The Best of the Best.
  • Recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory as a leading environmental lawyer, and by The Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.
  • Recognized as one of the world's leading practitioners in Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers.
  • Recognized by Who's Who Legal: Canada as a leading business law practitioner in the area of Environment.
  • Recognized a leading environmental lawyer in Canada by PLC Which lawyer?
  • Recognized by The Best Lawyers in Canada as a leading practitioner of Environmental Law.

Professional Affiliations

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Vice-Chair, National Environmental, Energy and Resource Law Section, Canadian Bar Association

Past Chair, Environmental Law Section, Ontario Bar Association

Board Memberships

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  • Soulpepper Theatre Company, 2004 to 2012

Community Involvement

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Teaching Engagements

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Speaking Engagements

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Sarah is a frequent speaker at environmental conferences. Recent engagements include:

  • Program Co-Chair and "Overview of Impact and Benefits Agreements with Aboriginal Communities in Canada's Mineral Sector" at the Environmental Law Forum 2013
  • Program Co-Chair at the 2012 Annual National Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Summit: Environmental Issues in Business Transactions
  • “Aboriginal Consultation Developments” at the Ontario Bar Association’s Annual Institute 2012
  • “Allocating the Environmental Risk in Transactions” at the Environmental Law Forum 2012

Articles and Publications

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Sarah is the author of numerous articles, including “2012 Federal Budget to Streamline Environmental Assessment and Aboriginal Consultation” (March, 2012), “Canada’s Climate Policy – Federal Retreat, Provincial Uncertainty” (January, 2012) in Environment Policy & Law, and “Litigation Turbulence for Wind Energy Projects in Ontario” (October, 2011) in Corporate Litigation Journal.

Sarah Powell
Sarah Powell
Partner
Office:
Toronto
Tel:
416.367.6931
Email:
spowell@dwpv.com
Bar Admissions:

Ontario, 1993

Education:

Queen's University, LL.B., 1991

McGill University, B.A. (Honours), 1988