Luc Morin
Managing Partner, Montréal Office, Canadian Head of Restructuring
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Related services and key industries
Biography
Luc Morin is managing partner of our Montreal office. He is also the Canadian head of our restructuring practice.
Mr. Morin regularly advises his clients on complex restructuring and liquidation processes and proceedings, notices of intention, reverse vesting orders and bridge financings at both the regional and international levels.
Over the years, he has earned multiple distinctions for the high quality of his professional work. Mr. Morin was also invited to join the Insolvency Institute of Canada in 2018, an invitation-only organization dedicated to the promotion of insolvency excellence in Canada. This organization is made up of the most senior and experienced solvency professionals in Canada.
Professional experience
Collapse all- Quebec 2003
Mr. Morin has acted, among others, as counsel to the following entities:
- Groupe Selection (2023): Our team is acting for National Bank of Canada, in its capacity as agent for the lending syndicate comprising major Canadian banks and financial institutions, senior lenders of Groupe Sélection in the context of its restructuring process under the CCAA. The total indebtedness of Groupe Sélection, one of the most important senior housing facilities (RPA) in Canada, is in excess of $1.5 billion. This is a rare case where a competing CCAA application filed by creditors was approved by the court as the preferred alternative over the restructuring initiated simultaneously by the company and its management.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Code, and in our Montréal office for the Canadian portion of the restructuring. This restructuring of a debt of over $250 million is central to the efforts deployed.
- Canadian Solid Waste Inc. Group (2020): Our team acted for PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., the court-appointed CCAA monitor, in the restructuring procedures of Canadian Solid Waste Inc. and its affiliates pursuant to the CCAA. This restructuring allowed it to pursue its recyclable waste collection services in the Montréal region under a transaction that restructured a debt of close to $20 million.
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law, 2018-2024; Corporate and Commercial Litigation, 2019-2024
- International Financial Law Review 1000, Canada: Financial Restructuring (Rising Star), 2019-2023
- Chambers Canada, Nationwide: Restructuring/Insolvency, Chambers and Partners, 2022-2024
- The Legal 500 Canada: Insolvency & Restructuring (Next Generation Lawyer), 2020-2023
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2016-2023 recommended in Insolvency & Financial Restructuring (Insolvency Litigation); 2016-2023: recommended in Litigation - Corporate Commercial
- Best Lawyers in Canada: Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law "Lawyer of the Year," 2022
- Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 2020-2022: most frequently recommended in the area of Insolvency and Financial Restructuring
- Lexpert Special Edition, 2019-2021: Canada's Leading Litigation Lawyers
- "Set-Off and Compensation under the BIA/CCAA: From Kitco to SM Group and the Harmonization of Canadian Law" (co-author: Arad Mojtahedi), Ann. Rev. Insol. L, 20th ed, 2022 - CanLIIDocs 4303.
- "Catch Me If You Can: Third-Party Releases Under the CCAA," (co-author: Arad Mojtahedi), Ann. Rev. Insol. L, 19th ed, 2021 - CanLIIDocs 13544.
- "Guiding Principles for Distressed M&A Transactions: Choosing the Right Path and the Future of POAs and RVOs," (co-author: Guillaume Michaud), Journal of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, Volume 10, 2021.
- "In Search of a Purpose: The Rise of Super Monitors & Creditor-Driven CCAAs" (co-author: Arad Mojtahedi), Ann. Rev. Insol. L. 203, 2019.
- "What did you expect? Equity Claims, Shareholders and the Insolvent Corporation," (co-author: Arad Mojtahedi), Ann. Rev. Insol. L. 155, 2019.
- "Nothing Personal: The Bloom Lake Decision and the Growing Outreach of Vesting Orders against in personam Rights," (co-author: Nicolas Mancini), Ann. Rev. Insol. L. 905, 2018.
- "Set-Off and Compensation in Insolvency Restructuring under the BIA/CCAA: After the Kitco and Beyond the Rack Decisions," (co-author: Guillaume-Pierre Michaud), presented at the Annual Review of Insolvency Law conference, Montreal, February 16, 2017.
- Article on derivative actions and other Paulian recourses (co-author: Guillaume-Pierre Michaud), JurisClasseur Québec, Collection droit des affaires, Droit des sociétés, Fascicule 15, 2009-2017.
- "Shareholders and Corporate Insolvency," Ottawa Law Review 38.1, 2007.
- "L'insolvabilité en contexte international et l'attitude des tribunaux canadiens," Ottawa Law Review 38.2, 2008.
- Canadian Bar Association
- Insolvency Institute of Canada
- Turnaround Management Association
- English
- French
News
Insolvency and restructuring: Luc Morin speaks to Droit-Inc about the practice area and the different strategic options available to companies for their financial recovery
August 16, 2023
Luc Morin speaks about dealmaking and the use of RVOs in Canada
July 12, 2023
Top honours at the Canadian Law Awards: Our Canadian team is recognized in M&A, Restructuring & Insolvency, and Technology
May 12, 2023
Insights
Doing business in Quebec
Publication | April 13, 2023
Dealing with distress: Business restructuring and rescue
Publication | January 04, 2023
Competing applications and creditors' right to control a CCAA process
Publication | December 5, 2022