Antoine Leduc

Expertise

Banking and Financial Services

• Asset-Based Lending and Factoring
• Banking Litigation
• Commercial Lending Transactions
• Equipment Leasing
• Financing and Taking of Security in Insolvency Matters (DIP )
• Mezzanine and Venture Capital Financing
• Real Estate Financing
• Securitization
• Syndicated Lending and Participations

Bankrupty, Insolvency and Restructuring

• Cross-Border Insolvency
• Enforcement of Security
• Financing and taking of security in Insolvency Matters (DIP)
• Formal or Informal Reorganizations
• Insolvency in a Farming Context
• Legal Counsel to Creditors, Debtors and Insolvency Professionals
• Mergers and Acquisitions in an Insolvency Context
• Plans of Arrangement Under Corporate Laws
• Procedures and Recourse Under the Insolvency Legislation

Business, Commercial and Corporate Law

• Corporate Finance
• Cross-Border Transactions
• Equity Financing
• Private International Law
• Venture Capital Financing

Construction Law

• Construction Project Financing
• Public Private Partnerships

Litigation

• Banking Litigation
• Insolvency

Real Estate Law

• Mortgage Financing and Enforcement

Strategic Teams

• Banking and Financial Services
• Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuring
• Commercial Litigation
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Real Estate
• Wealth Protection

Professional background

Antoine Leduc is a partner in our Banking and Financing, Real Estate and Restructuring and Insolvency Law strategic teams.

Dr. Leduc’s practice is focused on banking and financial services law, as well as on bankruptcy and reorganization matters. He represents banks, financial institutions, trustees in bankruptcy and debtors in a variety of contexts that include domestic and cross-border bank financing, infrastructure finance, syndicated loans, factoring transactions, real estate lending, asset-based lending and equipment financing to corporate reorganizations and restructurings, refinancing and enforcement proceedings. Mr. Leduc is also heavily involved in two other important areas, namely, international commercial transactions and legal reform projects in developing countries.

Approached by various legal bodies for his expertise, Dr. Leduc has been a member of the board of directors of the Quebec Division of the Canadian Bar Association since 2008 and has been Co-Chair of its Legislation and Law Reform Committee. Dr. Leduc was President of the Bankruptcy, Insolvency and Restructuration Section of the Canadian Bar Association’s Quebec Division for 2007-2008. In 2006, he was appointed to the Consulting Panel created by the Autorité des marchés financiers du Québec with respect to the study of the Act respecting the transfer of securities and the establishment of security entitlements (Quebec).

His writings are regularly quoted by the courts, and the Supreme Court of Canada recently referred to one of his texts in Caisse populaire Desjardins de l’Est de Drummond v. Canada, 2009 SCC 29.

In November 2009, Dr. Leduc was recognized by Lexpert Magazine as one of Canada’s “Rising Stars - Leading Lawyers under 40.” Moreover, he was also named among the “Canadian Corporate Lawyers to Watch” in the 2010 Lexpert Guide to the leading US/Canada cross-border corporate lawyers in Canada. In September, 2010, he was appointed “Fellow” of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys, an award received by few Canadians.

Since 2001, Dr. Leduc has been teaching several business law courses at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal, where he is adjunct professor. He teaches in both the bachelor’s and the master’s programs, including the Advanced Secured Transactions Law course in the Master of Laws Program (Business Law). He is also Research Fellow at the faculty’s Chair in Business Law and International Trade.

In February 2000, Dr. Leduc was invited by both the Quebec and Canadian governments to represent them, in Washington, D.C., as a Quebec civil law expert with respect to secured transactions, at the Organization of American States’ (OAS) Second Meeting of Experts for the Sixth Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-VI). This led to the adoption of the 2002 Model Inter-American Law on Secured Transactions, which aimed at standardizing this area of law across the Americas.

As a lawyer involved in law and development projects, Mr. Leduc has advised the Arab Republic of Egypt in connection with the reform of its real estate finance laws and institutions. In 2009, he led a team who completed a field study for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, regarding its urban planning, housing and real estate law reforms.

Having earned a Doctor of Laws from the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal (with great distinction) in 2011, Dr. Leduc also holds a Master’s degree in business law from that same institution, which he earned in 2002. His thesis, titled “The Harmonization of Secured Transactions in the Americas: A Comparative Law Analysis under Quebec Civil Law and Canadian Bijuralism”, was awarded the 2001-2002 Quebec Association of Law Teachers’ Prize for the best thesis submitted to Quebec faculties of law (including the University of Ottawa’s Civil Law Section).

Dr. Leduc obtained his civil and common law degrees from McGill University, where he was research assistant to Professor Emeritus Paul-André Crépeau at the Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law. He was called to the Barreau du Québec in January 1998.

Publications

• “Arrêt Val-Brillant : évolution ou régression de l’hypothèque mobilière avec dépossession, en droit civil québécois ?” (with Pierre Ciotola), in Mélanges offerts au professeur François Frenette : Études portant sur le droit patrimonial, Saint-Nicolas (Qc.
• "JurisClasseur Québec : Faillite, insolvabilité et restructuration, Montréal," (co-authored), LexiNexis, 2010.
• "Grands pas et faux pas de la compétence inhérente des tribunaux en droit canadien de l’insolvabilité : qui fait la loi ?", (2009) 111 Revue du Notariat 425.
• Les récents scandales financiers au Québec en matière de fonds communs de placement (Ed.), in the Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Branch, Actes de la formation juridique permanente 2008, Vol. 1, Cowansville (Qc.), Éditions Yvon Blais, 143 p.

Involvement

• Between 1990 and 1995, Mr. Leduc pursued advanced organ studies with Gaston Arel at the Quebec Conservatory of Music, and privately, thereafter, with this same master. He is very active in the Quebec musical scene, having been involved with the Fédération Québécoise des Amis de l’Orgue and the Académie de Musique du Québec, and having organized the Prix d’Europe competition. In 2005, he participated in the public hearings held by the Commission de la Culture de l’Assemblée Nationale du Québec on the future of Quebec’s religious heritage, and his recommendations were endorsed in the Commission’s report.

• He has published articles on music, on the organ and its artisans, as well as in the area of religious heritage in general and specialized publications and media. In June 2010, he was one of the driving forces behind the Manifeste pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine religieux du Québec (Manifesto for the safeguarding of Quebec’s religious heritage).

Professional affiliations

• American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI)
• American College of Mortgage Attorneys (ACMA)
• Association des juristes pour l'avancement de la vie artistique (AJAVA)
• Canadian Bar Association
• Association Henri Capitant des amis de la culture juridique française
• Quebec Society of Comparative Law
• INSOL International
• International Bar Association (IBA) Turnaround Management Association (TMA)

Representative work

Financing Transactions

• $228 million Loan Guarantee by Investissement Québec to Alcoa Ltée. Representation of Investissement Québec in the drafting and negotiation of a loan guarantee in the amount of $228M to Alcoa Ltée for the modernization of its installations in Québec, and representation of Investissement Québec in the negotiation with Alcoa’s lenders for the setting up of the credit documentation for the principal loan.

• $400 million non-recourse loan by Investissement Québec to Alcan Inc. Representation of Investissement Québec in connection with a $400M non-recourse loan made available to Alcan Inc. (now Rio Tinto Alcan), with respect to the modernization of its installations in the province of Québec. $48 million Secured Credit Facility (Construction Loan). Representation of the National Bank of Canada in connection with a $ 48M refinancing loan in favour of LAB Research Inc. for the construction of its new laboratories in Laval, Québec.

• $200 million secured credit facility. Representation of a Canadian chartered bank in a financing transaction for a private client, involving the setting up of security in many jurisdictions, including North America, Europe and Asia.

• €200 million Export Finance Secured Credit Facilities. Representation of Société Générale (Canada) (“SG”) in the financing of both Quebecor Media Inc. (“QMI”) and Quebecor World Inc. (“QWI”) for their acquisition of 22 printing presses built by Man Roland Druckmaschinen AG, from Germany, secured by Euler Hermes Kreditversicherungs AG, also from Germany. Responsible for structuring all the security arrangements between QMI and QWI, on the one hand, and the syndicate of lenders and SG, on the other hand. In this transaction, security was taken over movable and immovable property in many jurisdictions in North America, both in the United States and in Canada.

• $20,500,000 Private Placement in favour of Bellus Health Inc. Representation of a secured noteholder in this private placement, involving the setting up of security in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Financial Restructuring, Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy Matters

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of Les Meubles Poitras (2002) Inc. Representation of Raymond Chabot Inc., Trustee of the Estate of the bankrupt debtor.

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of 4271807 Canada Inc. and of Main Knitting Inc. Representation of Raymond Chabot Inc., Trustee of the Estate of 4271807 Canada Inc., a bankrupt.

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of Les Entreprises Pesamiu Ilnuts Inc. Representation of Sodexho Limited in its claim against Les Entreprises Pesamiu Ilnuts Inc., a corporation operated by aboriginal and native people.

• CCAA Proceedings of Mine Jeffrey Inc. Representation of the syndicate of lenders (short term creditors) in connection with their claim in such proceedings.

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of Location Rompré Inc. and Gestion Inter-Parc Inc. Representation of Ford Credit of Canada Limited in the realization of its $30 million claim against the floor plan of these car dealers.

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of VIP Switch Inc. Representation of Samson Bélair / Deloitte & Touche Inc., in its capacity of Trustee of the Estate of VIP Switch Inc., a bankrupt. He successfully pleaded before the Quebec Court of Appeal the case of Immeubles Wilfrid Poulin Ltée v. Samson Bélair / Deloitte & Touche Inc., 2006 QCCA 1320, regarding fraudulent conveyances and stand-by letters of credit granted in favour of a landlord.

• Restructuring and Bankruptcy Proceedings of Béton Grilli Inc. Representation of HSBC Bank Canada in connection with its claim as a lessor of heavy equipment in such proceedings.

• Bankruptcy Proceedings of National Metal Finishing N.M.F. (Canada) ltd. Representation of HSBC Bank Canada in connection with its claim as a lessor of heavy equipment in such proceedings.

Publications

• Nouvelles > Antoine Leduc and Babak Barin Before the Parliamentary Commission on the Reform of the Code of Civil Procedure February 10th, 2012