John Kolada is the Managing Partner of the Firm's Chicago office and one of the partners responsible for the Firm's U.S. initiative. John provides corporate and securities legal advice to both Canadian and foreign clients conducting business in Canada and acts as a liaison for Blakes clients abroad. He also has practised in the Firm's head office in Toronto as well as in the London office.

John's practice focuses primarily on Canadian domestic and international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance transactions involving companies in a wide range of industries, including mining, biotechnology, high tech and financial services. He has advised clients from many different parts of the world engaging in Canadian transactions or conducting business in Canada, including the U.S. and the U.K., as well as throughout Europe, India, Africa and Australia. He has advised corporations, investment banks, private equity firms and investment funds on M&A transactions, a broad range of public and private equity and debt financing transactions and other forms of investment, both within Canada and cross-border.

Representative Matters

Representative cross-border matters on which John has advised include:

• Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe on its agreed public offer for Loring Ward International
• H.I.G. Capital on its acquisition of the Canadian aluminum extrusions business of Tredegar Corporation
• The underwriting syndicate on NovaBay Pharmaceuticals' U.S./Canadian cross-border initial public offering and listing
• Symphony Technology Group on its agreed public offer for Hummingbird Ltd.
• Vedanta Resources plc on its take-over bid for Sterlite Gold Ltd. and subsequent sale of its controlling interest to GeoProMining Ltd.
• Descartes Systems Group on its acquisition of Global Freight Exchange Limited
• H.I.G. Capital on its acquisition of various subsidiaries comprising the Secure Products International Group of MDC Partners Inc.
• Descartes Systems Group on its acquisitions of TranSettlements, Inc. and Centricity, Inc.
• Vedanta Resources plc on its acquisition of a controlling interest in Konkola Copper Mines
• The underwriting syndicate (led by Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch) on a C$1-billion equity financing for Research In Motion (RIM)
• Glyko Biomedical on its acquisition by BioMarin Pharmaceutical
• Observer AB on its acquisition of Bowdens Media Monitoring Limited from Rogers Communications
• Billiton Plc on its take-over bid for Rio Algom

John has authored papers and spoken on a wide range of topics related to his areas of practice. He is a member of a number of legal associations, including the American Bar Association (ABA). He is also a member of the Executives' Club of Chicago, The Metropolitan Club and sits on the board of directors for the Canada-U.S. Business Council of Chicago.