Trevor Zeyl

Partner Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Trevor Zeyl

Trevor Zeyl

Biography

Trevor Zeyl is a corporate and securities law partner in Toronto and a key member of the firm’s top-ranked Special Situations team.

He advises boards and senior management teams through complex, high-stakes transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (including statutory plans of arrangement, reverse takeovers and other business combination transactions), financings and corporate reorganizations. His experience includes representing clients in complex cross-border merger transactions, special committees in undertaking strategic reviews and completing successful financings and plans of arrangements during proxy contests.

As a member of the firm’s Special Situations team, Trevor advises clients on shareholder activism preparation and defence in matters related to contested director elections, proxy contests, short campaigns, contested mergers and acquisitions and hostile takeovers. His experience includes representing issuers, their boards of directors and management as well as dissident shareholders and hostile bidders in some of the most significant and complex transactions, proxy battles, litigation and regulatory proceedings in the country.

He was recognized as a Leading Practitioner in Finance and M&A: 2022 Lexpert Special Edition – Canada's Leading Finance and M&A Lawyers, a Leading Lawyer Under 40 in Canada by Lexpert in 2021 and was designated a "Top 40 under 40" Emerging Leader Award by M&A Advisor in 2018.

Professional experience

Representative experience

Representative experience

Trevor has acted recently as counsel for the following clients:

Mergers & Acquisitions

  • Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited in connection with the following: C$985 million acquisition of Helly Hansen from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and sale of Helly Hansen to Kontoor Brands, Inc. for total gross proceeds of C$1.3 billion
  • Acquisition of Hudson’s Bay Company’s historic intellectual property portfolio
  • C$895 million repurchase of its Financial Services stake from The Bank of Nova Scotia
  • Parkland Corporation in connection with its strategic review and subsequent sale to Sunoco LP for US$9.1 billion to create the leading independent fuel distributor across the Americas
  • The special committee of the board of directors of Yamana Gold Inc., in a sale process with competing takeover proposals, which resulted in a negotiated sale to Pan American Silver Corp. and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited for US$4.8 billion
  • Agrium Inc. in connection with Agrium's US$36 billion merger-of-equals transaction with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.

Shareholder Activism

  • Parkland Corporation in its successful multi-year shareholder dispute (including the successful defence of Parkland at two contested AGMs) opposite Simpson Oil Limited and Engine Capital Management. LLP
  • Canadian National Railway Co. in its high-profile shareholder dispute opposite TCI Fund Management Ltd.
  • Aimia Inc. in a successful multi-year shareholder dispute opposite Mithaq Capital SPC, including defending Canada’s first-ever "against” director campaign, successfully thwarting an unsolicited takeover bid for C$308 million, and completing a contested PIPE-like financing and a subsequent equity issuance resulting in the leading decisions and precedents in Canada on financings
  • Agrium Inc. in its successful high-profile shareholder dispute opposite JANA Partners LLC

Rankings and recognitions

Rankings and recognitions

  • Leading Practitioner in Finance and M&A: 2022 Lexpert Special Edition – Canada's Leading Finance and M&A Lawyers
  • Leading Lawyer to Watch in Corporate Finance & Securities: Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2022
  • Lexpert Rising Star: Leading Lawyer Under 40, 2021
  • "Top 40 under 40" Emerging Leader Award: M&A Advisor, 2018

Education

Education

J.D., University of Windsor, 2011
LL.M. (International Business Law), London School of Economics and Political Science, 2010
M.Sc., London School of Economics and Political Science, 2007
M.A., Wilfrid Laurier University, 2005
B.A. (Hons.), Wilfrid Laurier University, 2004

Admissions

Admissions

  • Ontario 2012

Publications

Publications

·       Quoted in “After Trump’s win, Canadian trade lawyers say clients brace for tariff fallout,” The Globe and Mail, November 12, 2024

·       “E-gaming 2021: State of play,” LAW360 Canada, February 2, 2021

·       Quoted in “‘Act of God’ clauses could be triggered in the wake of coronavirus,” The Globe and Mail, March 16, 2020

·       Quoted in “Coronavirus prompts Enbridge to move AGM online,” The Globe and Mail, March 10, 2020

·       "Shareholder activism in Canada: 2017," Ethical Boardroom [https://ethicalboardroom.com/shareholder-activism-in-canada-2017/]

·       “Charting the Wrong Course: The Doctrine of Legitimate Expectations in Investment Treaty Law,” (2011) 49 Alberta Law Review 203

 

Memberships and activities

Memberships and activities

  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Ontario Bar Association
  • Law Society of Upper Canada
  • Volunteer Toronto
  • London Goodenough Association of Canada

 

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