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With offices throughout Canada, and a presence in New York, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt continues to earn praise for its capital markets work. It is especially noted for representing underwriters on debt offerings and combined debt and equity deals, and advising issuers on the equity side.

"Osler is very good from a client perspective," says one long-term client. "We've never been disappointed with them."

Last year, Montreal partner Vitale Santoro was appointed to the Securities Advisory Committee, which provides advice to the Autorité des marchés financiers (Quebec) on legislative and policy initiatives and capital markets trends.

In terms of transactions, last year Osler acted for underwriters Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and the RBC Capital Markets in the Calgary-based SMART Technologies' $660 million IPO. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, it was the largest Canadian technology IPO in a decade and closed in July 2010.

The firm also represented Maple Leaf Foods as Canadian and US counsel, in a secondary offering of common shares by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in a "bought deal" closing December 2010. The offering, valued at C$360 million ($375 million), represented all of Teachers' 25% ownership of Maple Leaf Foods.

Although the banking and finance group at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt's is respected in the market, competitors note that it doesn't "quite have the depth of financing," as the tier one firms.

In terms of transactions, last year the firm advised Shoppers Drug Mart in a $781 million amended and restated revolving term credit facility maturing in 2014, in a deal that closed in December 2010. The firm also represented Goldman Sachs Lending Partners as lead arranger and agent in connection with senior secured credit facilities provided to Valeant Pharmaceuticals for its merger with Biovail.

In March 2011, Osler acted for JPMorgan, Citibank and Bank of America in Canada in connection with a $312 billion facility with Ally Bank, Ally Financial and Ally Credit Canada, secured by retail, lease and wholesale financial assets.

Over the past year, Osler counselled members of the Canadian Bankers Association, on matters including the 2011 Bank Act amendments and amendments to Bank Act security provisions, and on court appearances relating to the proposed Canadian Securities Act. The firm also provided advice on appearing before the Competition Tribunal in an intervention in the Commissioner of Competition's application which alleged that Visa and MasterCard's rules for credit cards infringe the Competition Act.

Osler's M&A practice has had an impressive year, reporting several high-profile deals with big-name clients. One competitor identifies Clay Horner, chair of the firm, and Brian Levitt, who is now counsel but was previously co-chair, as leading lights. Partners Emmanuel Pressman and Ward Sellers co-chair Osler's M&A specialty group.

Horner is also singled out as "the finest M&A lawyer in Canada," by a long-term client. "He knows the law ice cold," the patron says. "He's a statesman when appropriate, but you'd also want him on your side if you were in a street brawl. He could be the head of M&A at any law firm anywhere."

Horner joined Jeremy Fraiberg and Donald Gilchrist as counsel to the Toronto Stock Exchange for the much publicised, but ultimately unsuccessful, proposed merger between the London and Toronto Stock Exchanges, valued at $3.7 billion. The deal fell through when two-thirds shareholder approval could not be reached.

Osler also represented Kinross Gold in another big case, its $7.3 billion acquisition by Red Back Mining, which was the largest completed M&A deal of the year. And in a $3.3 billion deal that closed in April 2011, Osler represented Walter Energy in its acquisition of Western Coal though a statutory plan of arrangement, following the acquisition of a strategic 19.8% of Audley Capital.

Osler Hoskin & Harcourt's practice includes specialists in project finance, public-private partnerships (PPP), power and procurement.

Highlights over the last year include representing Atomic Energy Canada on various procurement, construction and consulting contracts. These include transactions relating to the development of the Waste Storage System, the FPS Retrieval and Transfer System, and the Fuel Packaging and Storage Building at Chalk River Laboratories. The work also includes the Ontario Nuclear Procurement Project, conducted by Infrastructure Ontario, involving the refurbishment and re-tubing work for the restart of several major nuclear generating stations.

Osler is also representing Pristine Power on the development of the York Energy Centre, a 393MW gas-fuelled plant. The firm's work includes negotiating agreements for the East Windsor Cogeneration, a 92MW facility that recycles wasted energy from the plant.

High-profile cases for Osler Hoskin & Harcourt over the past year include Canwest, Nortel and General Motors. The firm has relationships with US-based advisors, which helps it structure cross-border restructuring and insolvency transactions.

One client, who has retained the firm for over a decade, comments: "As long as we give them proper instructions, we're happy. They know their stuff and represent our interests."

In September 2010, Osler acted for Blockbuster Canada, the Canadian branch of the US-based movie rental chain Blockbuster, in connection with Blockbuster's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States. Osler also represented the company in its subsequent stalking horse auction, held in April 2011, at which Blockbuster was acquired by the satellite company Dish Network for $233 million. The independently-operated Blockbuster Canada announced in May 2011 that it would close 146 of its approximately 400 outlets. The team was led by Tracy Sandler.

Osler also acted for Canwest Global Communications in connection with the restructuring proceedings of its print and broadcasting subsidiaries under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). After filing for protection in late 2009, Canwest sold its newspaper assets for $1.1 billion to a group of creditors led by the National Post, and its broadcasting assets for $2 billion to Shaw Communications. The deals closed in October and July 2010, respectively. Edward Sellers led Osler's insolvency team, with assistance from Tracy Sandler.