Prior to founding Select Hotel Investment, Eric practiced law for 35 years, most recently as a senior partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon. Eric has extensive experience with the hotel industry. Major projects have included Legacy Hotel REIT’s public sale to Cadbridge Investors, Legacy’s earlier cross Canada portfolio refinancing with institutional mortgages and a public debenture redemption, Fairmont’s acquisition of Delta Hotels, Fairmont’s purchase of Princess Hotels and its merger with Canadian Pacific Hotels. He has also been involved in numerous purchase, sale, financing and management transactions involving individual hotels and various brands. Eric has attained General Manager Level 2 certification from one of the major international hotel brands.
Eric’s legal specialty covered corporate and securities law, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and corporate finance. He implemented Canadian Pacific Limited’s spin-off of its five divisions as independent public companies, and C-I-L Inc.’s privatization and spin-off of Syngenta crop protection and Zeneca pharmaceuticals. He has represented purchasers and vendors in the negotiation and completion of business acquisitions and divestitures, acted for issuers and underwriters in the sale of equity and debt securities, and advised on the initiation and implementation of various other reorganization transactions. Eric has also advised on corporate governance and responsibilities, assisted in developing corporate strategies and responses, and structured a variety of business ventures and commercial relationships.
Eric has written and spoken on a variety of subjects, including “How to Close a Hotel Deal”, “Positioning for the Recovery – Legal Perspectives”, “Troubled Hotel and Resort Loans: Borrower and Lender Perspectives”, “Distressed Real Estate – Foreclosure or Forbearance”, “Issues Arising in Hotel Purchase and Sale Transactions”, Condominium Hotels: Canadian Legal Aspects”, “Why Should Canadian Companies Be Sitting Ducks?”, “Recent Initiatives on Corporate Governance in Canada”, “Planning Your Next Joint Venture”, “Corporate Compliance, Risk and Crisis Management”, “Directors & Officers Liability and Corporate Governance”, and “Playing the Global Game: Purchases, Sales and Reorganizations of International Businesses”.
Eric has been included in The International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers. He is a member of The Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Investor Relations Institute.
His law degree is from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, and he has a B.A. from McGill University in Montreal.