Ilia Danef

Partner
About

Ilia Danef has an extensive finance practice with a focus on debt finance. Ilia also regularly represents clients in corporate transactions and mergers and acquisitions in the projects, energy and infrastructure and the financial institutions sectors.

Ilia acts as lead counsel for lenders and borrowers in relation to different types of financings, including project financing (in particular in the area of natural resources and projects and infrastructure), acquisition financing (in particular in relating to projects and infrastructure), export credit financing, investment grade loans, telecom financing, asset based loans as well as general corporate loans.

Ilia acts on behalf of issuers, holders and trustees in relation to the debt aspects of bond offerings in the capital markets.

In addition, Ilia's practice has a general corporate component in which he regularly acts for sellers and buyers in various industries and sectors.

Ilia spent 12 years with a large Canadian law firm and ten years with two other large international firms, including five years in London and Amsterdam in the Finance group of a large international firm. During that time, he spent seven months in-house with ABN AMRO Bank N.V, the largest Dutch bank at the time with their acquisition finance, telecom and investment grade teams.

Bar admissionsOntario, 1997

EXPERIENCE

  • Advised Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on its US$555 million private senior secured notes offering.
  • Advised Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on its US$455 million senior secured debt facility with Goldman Sachs Bank USA.
  • Advising Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on its $3.25 billion senior secured debt facility in connection with the acquisition of Link Administration Holdings Limited (ASX: LNK).
  • Advised Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on its $1.8B financing in connection with the acquisition of TELUS' Financial Solutions Business.
  • Acted for Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on the debt financing portion of its $530 million acquisition of Do Process LP, an ‎affiliated entity of Teranet Inc., from OMERS Infrastructure.
  • Advised Dye & Durham (TSX: DND) on its $700M refinancing with The Bank of Nova Scotia.
  • Acted for Sprott Private Resource Lending II (Collector), LP in connection with the credit facility used to partially fund the acquisition of a portfolio of precious metal royalties from South32 Limited by Elemental Royalties Corp. (TSXV: ELE) (OTCQX: ELEMF).
  • Acted for Sprott Private Resource Lending II (Collector), LP in connection with a US$65M credit facility and a US$25M gold stream with Pure Gold Mining Inc. (TSX-V: PGM; LSE: PUR) to fund the costs to develop an underground mine at PGM’s Madsen Gold Project.
  • Acted for Sprott Private Resource Lending II (Collector), LP in connection with a US$110M multi-tranche senior secured credit facility and a US$30M royalty agreement with Hycroft Mining Corporation to finance its acquisition of Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: MUDS, MUDSU and MUDSUW).
  • Acted for Sprott Private Resource Lending II (Collector), LP in connection with a convertible senior financing in support of SRG Mining Inc.’s bid for North American Lithium Inc.
  • Advised Computershare Trust Company of Canada in the sale of accounts to Olympia Financial Group Inc. (TSX: OLY).
  • Acted for Trulieve Cannabis Corp. in connection with a USD $350 million private placement offering of 8% secured notes.
Languages
  • English
  • Bulgarian
  • Dutch
  • French
Education
  • LL.B., Osgoode Hall, 1995
  • B.A. (Philosophy) University of Toronto, 1992

Awards

  • The Legal 500 Canada (Banking and Finance), 2020

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Ontario Bar Association 
  • Law Society of Ontario 
  • International Bar Association

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