Background

Louis Clément is a partner in our Montréal office. He was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1989 and is a graduate of the Law Faculty of Laval University. In 1987, Louis completed the Canadian Securities Course offered by the Canadian Securities Institute.

Areas of Practice

• Louis works mainly in the following areas: the acquisition and sale of businesses, the establishment of consortiums, and the drafting and negotiation of various commercial agreements. Given his areas of practice, Louis is a member of our Corporate Commercial Group as well as of our Investment Management and Health Law Group. He is also a member of our Mergers and Acquisitions Group. During the course of his professional practice, he has had the opportunity to acquire in-depth knowledge in the areas of forestry, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
• Louis is the Regional Coordinator (Montréal) of our Asia-Pacific Group and  the Regional  Coordinator (Montréal)  of our  Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Group.

Professional Experience

• Prior to practising law, Louis had practical training at the Montreal Stock Exchange as well as with the mergers and acquisitions group of ScotiaMcLeod in London, United Kingdom.

Areas of Expertise

• Louis acts as a consultant and takes part in mergers and acquisitions as well as the selling of open corporations and private corporations.
• He acts as a consultant and takes part in commercial financial transactions such as private investment and offering operations by pension funds or other institutions that are active in the investment industry and are interested in venture capital.
• He acts as a consultant and takes part in various types of commercial operations concerning businesses such as re-engineering and international joint ventures.
• He acts as a consultant for pharmaceutical and medical devices corporation by offering advice on all legal and regulatory questions likely to affect operations.
• He also acts for lenders and borrowers in connection with lending transactions involving derivative instruments.

Representative Transactions

• Louis was mandated, at several occasions, by Bowater Canadian Forest Products Inc. and, since the merger with AbitibiConsolidated, by AbitibiBowater Inc., in purchase and sale transactions relating to plants and/or investment in corporation involved in the wood transformation business, across Canada.
• AXA Assurances Inc. mandated Louis and a BLG team for the first deployment in Canada, for this client, of a family of segregated funds known as accumulife option. This large scale mandate consisted in supervising a team of lawyers who negotiated numerous agreements with specialized third party suppliers, participating in the drafting of the Information folder, the individual variable contract offered to investors and other ancillary documents, filing these documents and obtaining all necessary approvals with provincial insurance regulators. The mandate also required the registration of the segregated funds, accumulife option, as life income funds and locked-in retirement account with provincial authorities. Finally, the mandate entailed to establish and/or update AXA Assurances Inc.'s internal governance policies required under laws and regulations that apply to segregated funds and life insurance companies.
• Louis was mandated by the AXA Group in the context of the sale of its subsidiary which is active in the distribution of financial products to PEAK Investment Services Inc. In the context of this transaction, it was necessary to obtain several regulatory authorizations from the Autorité des marchés financiers and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.
• He was mandated by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board ('PSPIB') in the context of the acquisition of an interest of approximately 92% in Transelec Chile S.A., the owner of the Chilean electricity distribution network. This interest was held by Hydro-Québec International. The acquisition, in the amount of CAN$1,700,000,000, was realized by a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the client, PSPIB. In the context of this transaction, the consortium also negotiated a financing of US$660,000,000 in New York, for which we acted on behalf of our client.
• He was mandated by Société générale de financement du Québec ('SGF') in the context of an investment worth several million dollars realized through the subscription to a debenture and the acquisition of a 30% interest in the capital stock of Fruits & Passion Inc., an international franchise doing business, amongst other things, in personal care products.
• He was mandated by the shareholders of Delta Dailyfood (Canada) Inc., a corporation producing prepared meals, in the context of a trans-border operation that resulted in the sale of Delta Dailyfood to a French public company, Fleury Michon S.A., for several million dollars.
• He was mandated by Desjardins Sécurité Financière and Financière Sun Life in the context of the taking up of a loan (initially, in the amount of CAN$40,000,000) to Place Fleur de Lys Limited Partnership and Place Fleur de Lys Inc., the owners of an important shopping centre located near Québec City.
• He was mandated by Mayne Pharma Pty Ltd. ('Mayne Group') to prepare an In-License Distribution Agreement concerning the world-wide distribution by Mayne Group of certain pharmaceutical products manufactured by Omega Laboratories Limited, a Québec brand name generic company.
• He was mandated by Soquem Inc. and Soquémex Inc. (subsidiaries of Société générale de financement du Québec) with respect to their CAN$47,400,000 investment in McWatters Mining Inc. The transaction included the establishment of a limited partnership and the transfer of a gold mine to the company.
• He was mandated by Steltor Corporation and its shareholders in the acquisition by Oracle Corporation of all the outstanding shares, for an undisclosed amount. Steltor Corporation had developed an in-house software that offered multinational corporations a powerful electronic diary and meeting planner.

Professional and Community Activities

• Member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec Bar)
• Member of the Canadian Bar Association
• Former president, Cercle finance et placement du Québec (1993-1994)