Stikeman Elliott is the only Canadian law firm with an office in Australia. Our Sydney office is the hub of our Asia and Pacific Rim practice, and is frequently involved in multi-jurisdictional matters including corporate finance, banking, infrastructure development, project finance and mergers and acquisitions. The firm has a particularly high profile in mining and energy sector transactions and is involved in a significant number of initial public offerings, private placements and entitlements offerings that involve placements into Canada. With two highly experienced partners located in Sydney, and with access to a broadly experienced team of lawyers across Canada and in New York and London, Stikeman Elliott is able to provide a level of service to clients in the region that is unique.

Specific experience includes acting for:

• PotashCorp in its defence of BHP Billiton's US$38.6 billion unsolicited take-over bid, with the bid being subsequently withdrawn after the historic decision of Investment Canada to reject the proposal.
• JSC Atomredmetzoloto, the Russian state-owned uranium mining company, in connection with its A$1.02 billion acquisition of ASX/TSX listed Mantra Resources Limited.
• Molopo Energy Canada Ltd. in connection with a preliminary prospectus regarding a proposed initial public offering of its common shares and a secondary offering of common shares by Molopo Energy Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Molopo Energy Limited.
• Brink Energy Ltd. in the sale of its shares to Molopo Australia Limited by way of a plan of arrangement for C$13 million.
• Mineral Deposits Limited in its spin-off of gold assets to and creation of Teranga Gold limited. 
• Mineral Deposits Limited in its placement and accelerated rights offering on both the ASX and TSX.
• Anatolia Minerals Development Limited in its merger with Avoca Resources Limited.
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in its $3.6 billion acquisition of Sydney-based Intoll Group.
• AIMCO in its acquisition of the Great Southern forestry assets.
• Mirabela Nickel Limited in its offering of US$395m of senior unsecured notes.
• Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in their NZ$785 million acquisition of Vector Wellington Electricity Network Limited.
• Lihir Gold Limited in its listing A$9 billion acquisition by NewCrest Mining Limited.
• National Australia Bank in its acquisition of Presima Limited.
• Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited in the disposition of 98% of its interest in ETSA Utilities, Powercor and Citipower, three large Australian electricity distributors, to Spark Infrastructure and the global IPO of Spark and the listing of its stapled securities on the Australian Stock Exchange.
• BMO Capital Markets and JP Morgan in the A$80 million placement of shares of Coalspur Mines Limited.
• Canadian counsel to Telstra on its offerings involving Canada.
• Lynas Corporation Limited in its acquisition of a 19.9% interest in AMR Technologies Inc., a TSX-listed company engaged in rare earths in China.
• ING Real Estate in its acquisition of Summit REIT.
• National Australia Bank, Sydney Airport Corporation, Westpac banking Corporation, Telstra, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, New Zealand Telecom and others in connection with Maple Leaf Bond and other offshore borrowing programs.
• Macquarie Bank Limited in its $147 million acquisition of Orion Capital Limited.

 

Other than the specific regional areas outlined above, Stikeman Elliott has continued its focus throughout Asia representing companies from the PRC, the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea in many capital markets and M & A transactions involving Canada.

Our Presence in Asia and the Pacific Rim

For almost thirty years, Stikeman Elliott has been the dominant Canadian legal presence in Asia and the Pacific Rim, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Singapore. Our lawyers regularly travel throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and have access to a broad network of legal and financial contacts in all major economic centres in the area.

Reflecting the position of Canada as a target for rapidly expanding Asian economies and as a significant source of capital, the firm regularly provides advice on a large number of significant transactions from Asia and the Pacific Rim into Canada. We frequently advise on inbound investment in the energy and mining sectors, and have significant experience with joint ventures and other commercial arrangements.

Recent Group Activities

Sydney partner speaking at TMX seminar in Perth, Australia
Quentin Markin will be speaking at "Canada Calling" a TSX presentation on opportunities for Australian Resource companies to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange / TSX Venture Exchange, being held on Friday, March 23, 2012. Please click here for more details.