Samer Awadh advises clients in Saskatchewan, Alberta and abroad on matters involving mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities, commercial lending, governance and other corporate/commercial matters. Samer co-leads the firm’s Ag & Food group.
Representative Work
Samer works with clients in various industries, including:
- Agribusiness
- Clean Energy
- Manufacturing
- Mining
- Technology
Samer’s recent experiences include acting as:
- Corporate and securities counsel to publicly traded companies, including on continuous disclosure, prospectus, issuer bid, reverse takeover, and proxy dispute matters
- Lead counsel to the board of a Canadian public company in its successful response to various proxy battles initiated by a group of activist shareholders
- Counsel to a group of investors in their divestiture of Saskatchewan assets valued at approximately $110 million in a clean energy facility
- Lead counsel to a Canadian group of companies in their acquisitions of agribusinesses in the aggregate amount of approximately $105 million
- Lead counsel to an agribusiness in connection with syndicated credit facilities in an aggregate amount exceeding $200 million
- Lead counsel to a group of crop input retailers with respect to the establishment and operations of their $20 million group
Samer has also acted for clients on some of the largest clean energy projects in Saskatchewan, including acting as:
- Lead Saskatchewan counsel to the owner and manager of a $260 million wind energy project
- Lead Saskatchewan counsel to a syndicate of Canadian and international banks in their $280 million financing of one of the largest wind energy project in Saskatchewan
- Lead Saskatchewan counsel to a syndicate of international lenders in their $70 million financing of a wind energy project
Leadership
- Practical Law Canada | Finance Advisory Board Member (2023–present)
- Economic Development Regain | Director (2022-present)
- Regina Symphony Orchestra | Director (2021-present)
- Regina Symphony Foundation | Director (2021-present)
- Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame | Director (2017-2023)
- University of Regina, Leaders Council at the Hill and Levene Schools of Business | Executive Member (2017-2022)
- Canadian Bar Association, National Business Law Section | Honourary Member-at-Large (2023–Present), Chair (2021–2022), Officer (2018-2023), Executive Member (2016-2018)
- Canadian Bar Association, Saskatchewan Business Law South Section | Chair (2015-2018)
- Regina Soccer Association | Director & Treasurer (2015-2018)
- Saskatchewan Law Review | Editor (2012-2013)
Writing & Presentations
- Author, Canada Chapter in International Secured Transactions (Thomson Reuters, 2023). The book is a treatise that examines the UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) Draft Guide on Secured Transactions, which is designed to promote increased access to low-cost credit by encouraging the introduction of effective and efficient domestic-secured transactions laws around the world. The book offers analysis of secured transactions law in over 30 commercial jurisdictions and leading practitioners from major law firms in North and South America, Europe, and Asia provide insightful, practical commentary on their respective countries security interests, comparing them with the provisions of UNCITRAL legislative guidelines and providing status review of implementation in their respective countries.
- Co-author, Canada Chapter in The Food, Beverage and Cosmetics Law Review (The Law Reviews, 2023), forthcoming. The chapter provides an overview of the various legal and regulatory frameworks impacting the food and agribusiness sector. With a focus on recent developments, it examines areas such as unique issues related to financing and M&A, supply chain issues (including sustainability, anti-corruption, and labour and immigration), sales and marketing, general product liability, and the role of trade organizations.
- Presenter to numerous boards, including boards of publicly-traded companies, credit unions, self-governing bodies, business corporations, and not-for-profit corporations, on board governance matters, including board duties, liabilities, and conflict of interest matters (2018–present).
- Co-author with Stathy Markatos, “Delivery Delays, Foreign Laws and Payment Risks in International Sales Contracts,” 8:3 Global Ventures (September 2016).
- Co-presenter with Scott Masson, “Typical Provisions in Real Estate Opinions,” Law Society of Saskatchewan Continuing Professional Development seminar on Due Diligence and Legal Opinions (March 2016).
Awards
- BLG Research Fellow, University of Saskatchewan College of Law (2012)
- Orest and Marie Bendas Prize in Jurisprudence (2012)