Davies

Brian Bloom

Brian Bloom is a partner in the Taxation practice. His practice focuses on income tax law, with particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, international tax planning and transfer pricing. Brian is the chair of the Montréal office’s Taxation practice group.

In the last few years, Brian has played a key role in structuring major transactions for various high-profile clients.  He also advised the Canadian government on the taxation of electronic commerce.

Prior to joining the firm, Brian worked as a senior tax policy officer in the Tax Legislation Division of the Department of Finance and as a senior rulings officer in the corporate reorganizations and international group of the Rulings Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency.

Representative Work

  • Acted for the initial purchasers led by J.P. Morgan and TD Securities Inc. in connection with Air Canada's US$1.1 billion private placement offering of secured notes. The offering consisted of US$600 million of first-lien secured notes, $300 million of Canadian dollar-denominated first-lien secured notes and US$200 million of second-lien secured notes.

  • Acted for Bellus Health Inc. in the negotiation of agreements pursuant to which a subsidiary of Celtic Therapeutics will acquire and license worldwide rights related to the Phase III investigational product candidate KIACTA (for the treatment of AA Amyloidosis).

  • Acted for U.S.-based private equity firm Mill Road Capital, L.P. in its successful hostile and "white knight" bid for Cossette Inc. for approximately $134 million.

  • Acted for Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust in its initial $57.5-million bought deal public offering of trust units.

  • Acted for Prinoth SpA, a member of the Leitner Technologies Group, in its acquisition of the Camoplast Inc. Track Machine Group, a leading manufacturer of snow groomers and other utility vehicles.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel for Time Inc. in its acquisition of QSP, Inc., in the United States, and Quality Service Products Inc., in Canada, from The Readers Digest Association Inc. in a transaction valued at US$110 million.

  • Acted for TSX Group Inc. in its acquisition of Bourse de Montréal Inc. in a transaction valued at $1.3 billion which created TMX Group Inc., a leading integrated multi-asset stock exchange group.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel to India-based Tata Chemicals Limited in its acquisition of General Chemical Industrial Products Inc. in a transaction valued at US$1 billion, making Tata Chemicals one of the largest soda ash producers in the world.

  • Acted for Redbourne Realty Fund in the Redbourne Madison Property Inc. and Redbourne Madison Property LP Inc. acquisition of Madison Centre from Bentall Investment Management.

  • Acted for Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. in its merger of equals with Bowater Incorporated to create a company with a combined enterprise value of US$8 billion.

  • Acted for Schonbek Worldwide Lighting Inc. and its affiliated companies in connection with their sale to Swarovski US Holding Ltd., a subsidiary of Swarovski International Holding.

  • Acted for Bellus Health Inc. in connection with the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary, Ovos Natural Health Inc., and with respect to a Canadian license and supply agreement relating to Bellus Health's Vivimind product.

  • Acted for Zoom Media Group Inc., the world's largest digital fitness media company, in connection with its acquisition of Sports Display, Inc.

  • Acted for Atrion International Inc., a leading global provider of product compliance data and software solutions, in connection with the acquisition of Atrion by a subsidiary of IHS Inc.

  • Acted for Vitus Investments III Private Limited in connection with the sale of its interest in Virochem Pharma Inc.

  • Acted for Bellus Health Inc. with respect to a rights offering, resulting in the issuance of 52,363,419 common shares for aggregate proceeds of $9.7 million.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel to Gemin X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its affiliates in connection with its US$38-million tranched series C financing.

  • Acted for Adaltis Inc. in its $20-million private placement of 10% secured convertible notes due 2013.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel for Double-Take Software Inc. in its acquisition of emBoot Inc.

  • Acted for CryoCath Technologies Inc. in the sale of its surgical business to ATS Medical.

  • Acted for the University of Toronto in connection with its investment in Energy Capital Partners I, L.P.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel to Graceway Pharmaceuticals, LLC in connection with its acquisition of the Canadian pharmaceuticals business of 3M Canada Company.

  • Acted for Neurochem Inc. (now BELLUS Health Inc.) in its private placement offering of US$42 million in 6% senior convertible notes due 2026.

View All

Recognition

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  • Recognized by The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory as a repeatedly recommended leading practitioner in the area of Corporate Tax.

Professional Affiliations

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International Fiscal Association

Canadian Tax Foundation

Lord Reading Law Society

Board Memberships

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Community Involvement

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Teaching Engagements

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Brian is a lecturer in Taxation at the McGill University Faculty of Law.

Speaking Engagements

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Articles and Publications

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Brian writes frequently on tax matters and is the author of a number of published articles, including:

  • "Has Parliament Failed to Charge the 'Tax on SIFT Partnerships'?" (2011) 59:1 Canadian Tax Journal 1;
  • "A Policy of Disengagement: How Subsection 247(2) Relates to the Act's Income-Modifying Rules" (2009) CCH Tax Topics;
  • "Paragraph 247(2)(b) Demystified" (2006) 1783 CCH Tax Topics 1; and
  • "Subsection 247(2) Versus Subsection 69(1) of the Income Tax Act" (2006) 18:3 International Tax Planning 1.
Brian Bloom
Brian Bloom
Partner
Office:
Montréal
Tel:
514.841.6505
Email:
bbloom@dwpv.com
Bar Admissions:

Ontario, 1998

Québec, 1992

Education:

McGill University, B.C.L., LL.B., 1991

Université de Montréal, B.Sc., 1987