Joseph Philippe Christian Gauthier

Christian Gauthier is a Partner and Board Member of Bennett Jones LLP based in Vancouver and Toronto. He advises local and international clients on domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions (including management and leveraged buyouts of private and publicly-traded companies), corporate finance, initial public offerings, corporate governance and other capital markets and securities laws matters.

Christian started our Vancouver Office in 2014, which has since grown to approximately 50 lawyers and has been recognized as one of British Columbia's leading law firms ( Chambers Partners ). Prior to moving to Vancouver, Christian was the Co-Head of Capital Markets and M&A in Toronto where he practiced for over 13 years.

Christian enjoys building long-lasting working relationships with clients, often assisting clients through various business growth cycles, from incorporation, seed financings, initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, divestitures, acquisitions, financings, refinancings, restructurings and sales processes, as illustrated by the following examples.

Gateway Casinos Entertainment Limited (a) US$1.25 billion cross border loan led by refinancing of capital structure to facilitate repayment of LEEFF loan (described below) (b)$200-million loan made available by Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corp. (CEEFC) under the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF), the first loan advance of its kind (2020) (b) negotiation of various amendments with secured lenders, gaming regulators and landlords to account for impact of COVID-19 related casino closures (2020) (c) US$1.15 billion cross border merger with Leisure Acquisition Corp and NYSE listing (withdrawn) (2020) (d) US$170 million cross-border loan following internal reorganization (2019) (e) acquisition or Signal Point Casino and acquisition of Chances Kamloops (2019) (f) $100 million initial public offering filings with the SEC for a proposed listing on the NYSE (withdrawn) (2018) (g) refinancing of US$335 million secured term loan facility and C$150 million revolving facility (2018) (h) refinancing of US$485 million secured term loan, C$125 million revolving facility and US$255 million second lien secured notes due 2024 (2017) (i) acquisition of the Playtime group of companies (2016) (j) $170 million tender offer and refinancing of its second lien secured notes due 2017 (2013) (k)