John Bodrug is a partner in the Competition & Foreign Investment Review practice. John has extensive experience in all aspects of competition law and foreign investment review, including mergers, price fixing investigations and other pricing, distribution and advertising matters.
John has represented and advised Canadian, U.S.-based and international corporations across a range of industries, including the energy and resources, transportation, agricultural, manufacturing, financial services, retailing and consumer products sectors. John has obtained
Competition Act and
Investment Canada Act clearances for numerous merger transactions.
John also regularly represents companies that are the subject of inquiries under the criminal provisions of the
Competition Act, including in the context of contested matters, resolutions short of proceedings, and immunity or leniency agreements. He has also acted as a special counsel for the Director of the Competition Bureau in the Competition Tribunal proceedings relating to the Interac shared electronic financial services network under the
Competition Act.
Representative Work
- Acting as Canadian counsel to BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, in an unsolicited bid to acquire Rio Tinto in a share exchange offer that values Rio Tinto at approximately US$150 billion.
- Acted for Reuters Group PLC in its merger with the Thomson Corporation to create Thomson-Reuters Corporation, a global leader in electronic information services, trading systems and news, valued at $17.6 billion.
- Represented Agricore United in its acquisition by Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, following a takeover battle with James Richardson International, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion.
- Acted for Barrick Gold Corporation in its successful US $10.4 billion takeover bid for Placer Dome Inc. to form the world's largest gold mining company.
Recognition
- Cited in Chambers Global’s The World's Leading Lawyers as a “Band 1” leading individual competition law practitioner.
- Recognized annually as a recommended competition law practitioner in the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory.
- Cited in Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers.
- Listed in Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers as a foremost competition legal practitioner.
- Mentioned in IFLR1000 Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms as a leading individual in Canadian Competition/Antitrust law.
- Highly recommended in PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook.
Articles and PublicationsJohn is a co-editor of
Competition Law of Canada (Juris Publishing), a leading text on Canadian antitrust law. He has written numerous articles in the field of competition and trade practice law, including articles on the Canadian merger enforcement process in the American Bar Association's
Antitrust Law Journal and
Antitrust magazine.
Teaching EngagementsJohn has lectured on competition law at the University of Western Ontario Law School.
Speaking EngagementsJohn has been a speaker at American Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association and numerous other conferences.
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