About

Steve Suarez is a partner in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Steve works exclusively in taxation law, with a particular focus on mining sector.  His practice is focused on mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructurings and tax dispute resolution.  Among his significant transactions in the mining sector are acting for the following clients:

• Inco Limited on its proposed merger with Phelps Dodge Corporation and subsequent acquisition by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce;

• Placer Dome Inc. in the unsolicited offer by Barrick Gold Corporation and resulting negotiated merger;

• Eldorado Gold Corporation in its acquisition of European Goldfields Limited;

• Dominion Diamond Corporation (formerly Harry Winston Diamond Corporation) in connection with its acquisition of the Ekati diamond mine from BHP Billiton Canada Inc.

• Energy Fuels Inc., America’s largest conventional uranium and vanadium producer, in connection with its acquisition of Denison Mines Holding Corp. and White Canyon Uranium Limited, by way of plan of arrangement.

• Walter Energy, Inc. in its acquisition of Western Coal Corp.;

• Goldcorp Inc. on the sale of its interest in Terrane Metals Corp. to Thompson Creek Metals Inc.;

• Pan American Silver Corp., in its acquisition of Minefinders Corporation Ltd.;

• Talbot Group Investments Pty Ltd. in its acquisition and subsequent disposition to OAO Severstal of interests in PBS Coals Limited;

• Discovery West Corp. on its divisive reorganization and spin-out of BlackRock Ventures Inc.; and

• the underwriters to Royal Nickel Corporation on its initial public offering of common shares, warrants and flow-through common shares;

• Vietnam Resource Investments in its acquisition of Keeper Resources Inc.

• Agents (co-led by RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities Inc.) in the offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Unsecured Debentures, Series G of Cameco Corporation.

Outside the mining sector, his significant transactions include advising The Seagram Company Ltd. in its acquisition by Vivendi, Adolph Coors Company on its merger with Molson Inc., London Stock Exchange Group PLC in its proposed merger of equals with TMX Group Inc, IBM Corporation in its acquisition of Cognos Inc., CanWest Global Communications Corp. in its acquisition of Alliance Atlantis Inc., Magna International in the going private transactions of its publicly traded subsidiaries, Tesma, Decoma and Intier Automotive and in its spin-out of MI Developments Ltd., and BCE Inc. in the formation of Bell Globemedia with The Thomson Corporation and The Woodbridge Company Limited.

Steve writes and speaks frequently on taxation matters and is active in numerous Canadian and international tax organizations, including as a Councillor of the Canadian Branch of the International Fiscal Association, the Co-Chair of the Toronto Centre Canada Revenue Agency & Tax Professionals Consultation Group, and a past Chair of the Ontario Bar Association (Taxation Section).  He is also active in the mining sector, serving on the Executive of the Management & Economics Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. Steve holds a J.D. from the University of Toronto Law School and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, and has been acknowledged as a leading Canadian tax and mining practitioner by a number of international publications such as 2016 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide To The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (the Lexpert/ALM 500): Chambers Canada 2016: Lexpert, Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers in Canada 2015: Best Lawyers of Canada 2015 Edition: Who’s Who Legal 2015 Edition: The Tax Directors Handbook 2014-The essential guide to the world’s premier tax law firms: The Legal 500 Canada (Corporate Tax), 2014 Edition: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Tax) 2014: Lexpert, Leading Canadian Lawyers in Global Mining, 2013 Special Edition: Who’s Who Legal: Canada 2013: Chambers Global: Tax, and International Tax Review: World Tax 2012 and The International Who’s Who of Corporate Tax Lawyers 2012. He is called to the bars of Ontario and New York and is a solicitor in the Law Society of England & Wales.

For more information about Steve please see here.

To learn more about the Mining Group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, please see here.

For more tax publications from Steve, please below. For a complete list of publications and presentations by Steve, please see here.