December 8, 2011



John Elias has a broad-based banking & finance, corporate and M&A practice that has a particular focus on multi-jurisdictional financings and transactions. John regularly advises financial institutions as well as borrowers and project sponsors on multi-jurisdictional financings, including acquisition financings, mine financings and project financings.

Excerpt

Uranium One Inc. made history on Thursday by completing a US$463.5-million bond offering in Russia. It is the first time a foreign company has issued debt on Russian soil, and according to Toronto-based Uranium One, it should not be the last.

"It was a learning experience for the Russian regulators as well, because they never dealt with Western companies before," said John Elias, a partner at Fasken Martineau, which advised Uranium One.

This is the sort of transaction that Uranium One envisioned last year, when it agreed to make ARMZ its controlling shareholder in exchange for cash and uranium assets. Many investors were skeptical about that deal, but the company maintained that it would open up new opportunities.