John R. Sandrelli | Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

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John R. Sandrelli LL.B., Managing Partner, Vancouver

John is Managing Partner of the Vancouver office of Fraser Milner Casgrain and regularly acts for companies in need of restructuring as well as for trustees, receivers, financial institutions, commercial lenders, noteholders and other creditors. John has practised exclusively in the insolvency area for almost 20 years, the first part of his career in Toronto until 1997, when he relocated to Vancouver.

John has extensive experience with restructurings under both the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. He also has a working familiarity with the United States Bankruptcy Code. Additionally, in his practice, John regularly advises internationally-based companies on lending and remedy issues in Canada and is frequently retained by major U.S.-based law firms on Canadian bankruptcy issues.

John has specific expertise in the area of fraudulent transactions, particularly in the context of multi-jurisdictional insolvency cases involving the coordination of foreign legal proceedings to effect recovery, and has been a driving force in Canada with respect to developing joint insolvency protocols to harmonize legal proceedings in the context of cross-border insolvencies.

John has authored, presented and published several articles and papers in the insolvency and creditors’ rights areas. He is a past contributing author to the Annual Review of Law and Practice and the Continuing Legal Education Society in British Columbia. As well, John is a member of the editorial boards of both the National Insolvency Review and the National Creditor Debtor Review, Insolvency Institute of Canada, an executive member of the Insolvency Section of the Canadian Bar Association and an active member of the insolvency sections of the Turnaround Management Association, the International Bar Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute.

John has been recommended as leading lawyer for Insolvency/Restructuring in Who's Who Legal: Canada 2010, The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory 2008 and 2009, Best Lawyers 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, Global Insolvency and Restructuring Review, Chambers Global 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers is considered by many to be the pre-eminent international directory for business lawyers, ranking both firms and individual lawyers in their respective areas of expertise.

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John has extensive experience with restructurings under both the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. John has specific expertise in the area of fraudulent transactions.

Representative Work

Counsel to the developer of the Jameson House Project, a 36 storey $200 million mixed-use development project, on its ground breaking restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act

Advised a local B.C. investor group and CHEK Victoria employees on the acquisition of one of the oldest, and one of the first privately owned B.C. television stations from CanWest Global Communications

Represented Procon Mining & Tunnelling in the restructuring of and investment in Cross Lake Minerals Ltd., completed by way of a Plan of Arrangement

Counsel to the Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Lenders of Catalyst Paper Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries in their CCAA/Chapter 15 proceedings

Advised the Millennium Group in the completion of the restructuring of the Evelyn Drive Project

Re: Exchange Bank and Trust - acted as Canadian counsel for the receiver of this Nevis-based bank

Re: Portus Alternative Asset Management - acted as court appointed representative counsel for the approximately 26,000 investors in this collapsed hedge fund and asset management company

Re: Vantage Securities Inc. - acted as representative counsel for the 3500 RRSP customers in the first securities firm bankruptcy under the new provisions of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

In the matter of the bankruptcy of James Blair Down et. al. - acted for the petitioning creditor in appointing an interim receiver in a bankruptcy case brought on behalf of a large number of individuals that involved the issuance of various relief and included seizure of assets around the world in a multi-jurisdictional asset seizure

PricewaterhouseCoopers - acted and continue to act as counsel to the court appointed receiver of two environmentally contaminated gold and silver mine sites in Yukon Territory

Pine Valley Coal Ltd. - Acted as Co-Counsel in the mine’s restructuring under the CCAA

Brookdale International Systems - Acted as restructuring counsel for this manufacturer who faced major claims arising out of a defective emergency smoke escape device

North American Tungsten – Restructuring counsel in reorganization proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act

Edgewater Casino Inc. - Acted as counsel in successful reorganization under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings - led to a transaction in which all creditors were paid in full together with a significant recovery for shareholders

Re: Napier Environmental Technologies Corp. - acted for two private investment firms which ultimately financed and completed, as new majority owners, a successful restructuring of this publicly traded environmental paint product company

Re: Western Express Airlines - acted for the lead subordinated debt and equity lender in this local airlines’ CCAA and subsequent receivership proceedings

In the Matter of Financial Asset Management Foundation – acted as counsel for the debtor in this cross-border restructuring under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act involving an ancillary proceeding under Section 304 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in San Diego and involved a judicially approved protocol and joint hearings of both the Canada and U.S. courts held by video conference

Re: Novus Communications Inc. – acted as counsel for the company in the reorganization of Novus under the CCAA and then as counsel to the interim receiver in the sale of the company on a going concern basis to a major property company in Vancouver

Re: Tilsonberry Farms Ltd. – acted as counsel for the company in this successful reorganization under the CCAA involving the last independent cranberry farm in British Columbia

Re: Agro Pacific Industries – acted as independent counsel to the Board of Directors in this major Fraser Valley producer of feed and seed products for agriculture, poultry and livestock producers in the successful CCAA reorganization

Re: Quinsam Coal – acted as counsel for the monitor in the CCAA restructuring launched by a Vancouver Island based coal mining company

Re: Starcom International Optics - acted as counsel to Burlington Northern Railway in this cross-border insolvency case involving Starcom International Optics, a company having fibre optic lines running from Seattle to Vancouver

Publications

"Century Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)", Published by The International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers, July 2011

Review of the Jameson House Restructuring

The Role of Liquidating CCAAs

Focus on Real Estate - November 2009

RRSPS in British Columbia Receive Legislative Protection from Creditors

Prior Speaking Engagements

Panelist, "Creditors‘ Committees - Do They Add Value?", 9th Annual Review of Insolvency Law Conference, Vancouver, February 10, 2012

Presenter, "An Overview of Restructurings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA)", How to Succeed in a Real Estate Restructuring: The Jameson House Experience, Vancouver, October 27, 2009

Presenter, “Liquidating CCAA’s - Do They Have a Future?” Insolvency Institute of Canada Annual Conference and Meeting, Ottawa, October 2009

Presenter, “Managing Insolvency in Construction Projects”, Construction Law Strategies for 2009: Risk Redefined, Vancouver, April 29, 2009

Presenter, "Insolvency Issues for Public Companies", Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C. seminar: Advanced Securities Law 2009 - Practical Information in Challenging Times, Vancouver, February 27, 2009

Presenter, "Watch for Falling Rock: Insolvency & Restructuring for Mining Companies", FMC Annual Mining Seminar Series, Vancouver, January 15, 2009

Presenter, "Shifting Priorities? Review of Amendments to BIA and CCAA", Insight Information Conference, Vancouver, November 5, 2008

Panelist, "Cross Canada Review", 19th Annual IIC Conference & General Meeting, Montebello, Q.C., September 25-28, 2008

Co-Chair, CBA 4th Annual Pan-Canadian Insolvency and Restructuring Conference, Vancouver, September 18, 2008

"Receivership and Insolvency: When Things Go Bad", presented to the Western Forum on Commercial Loan Finance and Security Conference, The Canadian Institute, Calgary, May 29, 2007

"Cross-Border Income Trusts", presented to the INSOL International Toronto Seminar, Toronto, ON, October, 2006

“Cross-Border Insolvency Remedies in Canada”, John R. Sandrelli and Christopher J. Ramsay, presented to the 19th Annual Northwest Bankruptcy Institute, Portland, Oregon, April 14-15, 2006 (Published, Oregon State Bar [2006])

“The Year in Review from British Columbia: Significant Cases in Commercial Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring”, presented to the Canadian Bar Association Pan-Canadian Conference on Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law, Québec City, September 2005

“Jurisdiction of the Court in CCAA Proceedings: Inherent Jurisdiction vs. Statutory Discretion”, presented to the Canadian Bar Association Pan-Canadian Conference on Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law, Québec City, September 2005

“Case Study: Commercial Restructuring”, presented to the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals Annual Conference, Kelowna, August 2005

“Statutory Considerations When Dealing with Agricultural Insolvencies”, John R. Sandrelli and Christine N. Matthews, presented to the Canadian Bar Association Legal Conference and Expo 2005, Vancouver, August 2005

“Investigation and Pursuit - on the Asset Trail, Unique Canadian Tools and Issues”, presented to a conference of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Creditors’ Rights Section of the International Bar Association, Salzburg, Austria, May 2005

“The Role of Court-Appointed Officers in the Governance of Financially Distressed Corporations”, presented to the UBC Conference on Corporate Governance, February 8-9, 2002 (Revised for publication September 3, 2002) (Published: J. Sarra, “Corporate Governance in Global Capital Markets”, UBC Press [2003])

“Canada-U.S. Cross-Border Insolvencies: Ancillary Proceedings”, presented as part of the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., Bankruptcy & Insolvency Practice, May 17, 2002