Guillaume Michaud

Partner, Canadian Head of Restructuring
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

Guillaume Michaud

Guillaume Michaud

vCard

Related services and key industries




Biography

Guillaume Michaud is the Canadian head of restructuring. He  practises in the areas of insolvency and corporate restructuring and in connection with insolvency-related transactions and litigation. 

Guillaume represents and protects the interests of different stakeholders during corporate restructuring, distressed M&A, realization of assets or bankruptcies. The clientele he represents includes insolvent companies, trustees/monitors and receivers, purchasers and investors in a distressed M&A context, creditors, shareholders and directors. 

Guillaume guides clients during every aspect of asset sale or restructuring transactions, and during every aspect of litigation, including the provision of advice, the drafting of pleadings and representations before the various courts.


Professional experience

Expand all Collapse all

JD, Queen's University, 2007
LL.B., University of Sherbrooke, 2006

  • Ontario 2010
  • Quebec 2008

Guillaume has acted, among others, as counsel to the following entities:

  • BlackRock Metals (2022): Our team is acting for Investissement Québec in the restructuring proceedings of BlackRock Metals Inc. and its subsidiaries. These CCAA proceedings succeeded in identifying a value creating transaction that will allow Blackrock to emerge as a rehabilitated entity and proceed to the construction phase of its mining project, which is estimated to require financing of around US$1.1 billion.
  • Zenabis Group (2022): Our office is acting for Zenabis Global Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries in the context of their restructuring efforts under the CCAA. Zenabis Group is a Canadian medical and recreational cannabis cultivator.
  • Nemaska Lithium Inc. (2020): Our office is acting for Investissement Québec (IQ) in the proceedings of Nemaska Lithium Inc. and its affiliates pursuant to the CCAA. IQ acquired the business with a consortium it formed with the Pallinghurst Group. Our team played a key role in setting up an innovative structure (reverse vesting order) to complete the acquisition of the enterprise, which already stands as a precedent for other insolvency transactions carried out elsewhere in Canada. The transaction includes investments of over $600 million.
  • Cirque du Soleil (2020): Our office acted for Investissement Québec (IQ) in the proceedings of Cirque du Soleil and its affiliates (CDS Group) pursuant to the CCAA. IQ offered financial assistance to the CDS Group in the context of its restructuring, presented in the form of a proposal made by a consortium consisting of the key shareholders of the CDS Group, TPG Capital, Fosun International and the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec. The contemplated transaction included a restructuring of the corporation's debt of over $1 billion and the preservation of nearly 5,000 jobs.
  • Stornoway Diamond Corporation (2019): Our office acted for the Stornoway Group in the restructuring proceedings initiated under the CCAA. In the end, the recovery of a debt in excess of $1 billion was carried out with the support of the secured creditors and allowed the Plan Nord's flagship project, Renard Mine, to pursue its activities and protect over 500 jobs.
  • Dynamite/Garage Inc. Group (2020): Our office is acting for Deloitte Restructuring Inc., the court-appointed CCAA monitor, in the CCAA proceedings of the Dynamite/Garage Group and its affiliates. The Dynamite/Garage Group is a major player in the Canadian fashion retail industry that employs nearly 3,000 people and operates more than 300 stores in Canada and in the United States. Restructuring of the over $360 million debt is central to the efforts deployed.
  • Le Château (2020): Our office is acting for Wells Fargo (WF), a senior secured creditor of a debt of nearly $60 million, in the liquidation process initiated by Le Château under the CCAA. Our team set up the bridge financing that WF granted under the circumstances.
  • Spectra Premium (2020): Our team is acting for Ernst & Young Inc., the court-appointed CCAA monitor, in the Spectra Group's CCAA restructuring procedure. Spectra is an after-market automotive parts and tools business with activities in Canada and the United States. This case is proof of our cross-border team's strength, seeing as the restructuring procedures are being carried out in our New York office under Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Act, and in our Montreal office for the Canadian portion of the restructuring. This restructuring of a debt of over $250 million is central to the efforts deployed.
  • Lolë/Coalision Inc. (2020): Our team acted for Deloitte Restructuring Inc., trustee in the context of the notice of intention to make a proposal pursuant to the BIA presented by Coalision Inc., also known as Lolë. A transaction providing for the restructuring of a debt of over $50 million allowed the business to carry on its existing business.
  • Modasuite Inc./Frank and Oak (2020): Our office acted on behalf of KPMG Inc., trustee in the context of the notice of intention to make a proposal pursuant to the BIA presented by Modasuite Inc./Frank and Oak.
  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Insolvency and Financial Restructuring, 2019-2025; Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2024-2025
  • Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2020-2024: recommended in Insolvency & Financial Restructuring (Insolvency Litigation)
  • "New Frontier: The Emergence of Litigation Funding in the Canadian Insolvency Landscape," Annual Review of Insolvency Law 2018, Janis P. Sarra, Justice Barbara Romaine, Professor Jill Corraini and Justice Blair Nixon, Thomson Reuters, 2019.
  • "Canadian Recognition of U.S. Bankruptcy Proceedings: Not Always a Rubber Stamp for First-Day Orders," American Bankruptcy Institute, Young and New Members Committee Newsletter, Vol. 15, no. 2, July 2017.
  • "Set-Off and Compensation in Insolvency Restructuring Under the BIA/CCAA: After the Kitco and Beyond the Rack Decisions" (co-author), Annual Review of Insolvency Law, 2016.
  • "Recours oblique et autres recours" (co-author), LexisNexis, JurisClasseur Québec, Collection Droit des affaires, Fascicule 15, 2009 - 2016.
  • "Insolvency and Environmental Law following the AbitibiBowater Case: Still a Murky Intersection" (co-author),  Journal of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, 2013.
  • "Best Practices Guide and Practical Experience for Online Hearings," Advocates' Society, panelist (virtual), May 27, 2020.
  • "First Impressions on Third Party Litigation Financing," panelist, at the 16th Annual Review of Insolvency Law, Montreal, 2019.
  • "Bilan jurisprudentiel 2016-2017 en matière de faillite et d'insolvabilité," Canadian Bar Association ‒ Insolvency Section, Montreal, 2017.
  • "L'affaire Bock, ou l'entente ressuscitée," Conseil des syndics du Québec, Montreal, 2013.
  • "Les enjeux reliés aux questions environnementales dans le cadre d'une restructuration : qui détient la responsabilité?" The Canadian Institute, Montreal, 2012.
  • "Le Séquestre national et la réalisation de sûretés," Insight, Montreal, 2010.
  • "Responsabilité des administrateurs en contexte d'insolvabilité," F.P., Montreal, 2010.
  • Friends of the Botanical Garden of Montreal
    • Member, board of directors
  • Canadian Bar Association, Insolvency Section
  • French
  • English