Saint John-Born Lawyer Brokers Biggest Deal Yet
SAINT JOHN– A New Brunswick-born lawyer with Cox & Palmer is brokering another billion-dollar deal – this time an even bigger one.
Wayne Myles plays a key advisory role in the pending $8.2 billion purchase of Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) by Liberty Global.
With 27 million customers in 14 countries, Liberty Global is the largest international cable company in the world. The proposed purchase will provide Liberty organic growth and the opportunity to expand in over 40 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Myles, who was born in Saint John, said this is the largest commercial acquisition the firm has done.
“The most exciting and gratifying thing for me is we have a team of Atlantic Canada lawyers. We’ve now done a series of large international global transactions,” Myles said. “I think it demonstrates that an Atlantic Canada law firm has the bench strength and the people and experience to play in the kind of arena, which is a very complex global arena.”
Early this year, CWC purchased Columbus International, previously a privately-held telecommunications company based in Barbados, in a $3 billion transaction. Myles and Cox & Palmer acted as lead legal advisors to the Columbus shareholders.
In the sale to Liberty, Myles has worked closely with Brendan Paddick (the former Columbus CEO) and his partner John Risley, who also heads up Nova Scotia’s Clearwater Fine Foods. Their respective companies are CWC’s largest shareholders. Myles is also working with Piers Prichard-Jones and Katie Brown of the U.K. offices of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP.
“These are sophisticated business people who are negotiating a complex deal,” he said. “And as a result of that, there are obviously pressures and complexities that have to be overcome as part of the deal.”
And complexities are plenty. When you’re trying to merge two telecommunications companies that each have a presence in many countries, there is no shortage of hoops to jump through.
“There are lots of jurisdiction regulators, governments, etcetera that have to be addressed to get from negotiating a deal, to announcing a deal, to actually closing a deal,” Myles said. “There’s a good solid four to six months of heavy work to cover all the bases to do what has to be done to get the approvals to close the transaction.”
Once this deal closes, something expected in the New Year, Myles wants to continue to bring more international work to the Atlantic region and Cox & Palmer.
“I’ve always been a person who didn’t see provincial boundaries as barriers, and likewise, I don’t see country boundaries or barriers,” Myles said.
“There’s a lot we can do and there’s a lot of work Cox & Palmer is very qualified to do globally. My goal and aspiration is to bring as much work back to Atlantic Canada as I possibly can.”