Vincent Frenette

Regional Managing Partner, Montréal

Montréal
VFrenette@blg.com
514.954.3177

Vincent Frenette is the Regional Managing Partner of BLG's Montréal office and practices within the firm’s Financial Services Group. Vincent’s main areas of practice are corporate finance and related aspects of corporate law.

He works mainly on behalf of lenders (including major Canadian banks and some foreign banks), insurance companies, other institutional lenders, as well as alternate and private lenders. He also works on behalf of borrowers for the financing of private and public corporations, mainly via syndicated transactions. He is often involved in construction and project loans and other types of real estate financing, in addition to alternative financing through asset-based lending, leasing, factoring and convertible debt. He also routinely advises lenders on legal aspects of loan programs and related processes.

Vincent also regularly acts as strategic adviser for commercial and legal issues faced by BLG clients, as well as on financing arrangements related to acquisitions, restructuring and other similar operations, for clients operating in various industries such as real estate, energy, media, transportation, telecommunications, entertainment, manufacturing, professional services and insurance.

Vincent's practice also covers contractual arrangements related to swaps and other derivative instruments, for interest rate and currency hedging mainly as part of financial arrangements.

Vincent provides legal services through a Law Corporation.

Experience

  • Represented Telesat in $2.54B funding agreement (for its subsidiary, Telesat LEO Inc.) for its broadband satellite constellation.
  • Advised Davie in connection with its acquisition of the assets of Finland's Helsinki Shipyard Oy, a landmark transaction in the Arctic shipbuilding space, including the negotiation of $110 million (€77 million) in equity and debt financing from the Québec government.
  • Acted for Montoni, Groupe Sélection, Montez Corporation and Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ in establishing syndicated credit facilities for the construction of Espace Montmorency, a 1.3-million-square-foot, mixed-use project in Laval.
  • Acted for a banking syndicate in setting up a land loan and construction facilities for the development of the first phase of the Royalmount project in Montréal.
  • Acted for a syndicate of seven banks in setting up $900 million in operating lines of credits for an outfit in the renewable energy sector.
  • Acted for a banking syndicate in establishing $1.3 billion in credit facilities for a company in the clothing industry.
  • Acted for two mining companies for the setting-up of operating lines of credits totalling $300 million.
  • Acted for an insurance company in establishing a building loan and a long-term loan for the construction of a large commercial warehouse involving a complex real estate title-holding structure.
  • Acted for a syndicate of five banks in establishing credit facilities for the acquisition of a major equipment rental franchisor by a private equity fund.
  • Acted for a syndicate of seven banks to finance the amalgamation of two major entities in the aesthetic industry.
  • Acted for a major fund manager in setting up the ISDA master agreements for the currency hedging transactions required for the implementation of a mutual fund.
  • Acted for the borrowing consortium in the implementation of ISDA agreements for the hedging of interest rates related to loans for a major road infrastructure project.
  • Acted for Canadian and American banks for more than 50 syndicated and bilateral financings for the construction of major condominium, seniors’ residences and rental property projects in Québec, Ontario and Western Canada.
  • Acted for a banking syndicate in establishing syndicated credit facilities of $175 million for the development of six renewable energy projects in Western Canada.

Beyond Our Walls

Professional Involvement

  • Member, Board of directors, Canadian Club of Montréal
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association

Awards & Recognitions

  • Recognized in the 2025 edition (and since 2013) of The Best Lawyers in Canada® (Banking and Finance Law).
  • Recognized in the 2024 edition (and since 2023) of Lexpert Special Edition: Finance and M&A
  • Recognized in the 2023 edition of The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Project Finance), and since 2022 (Asset-Based Lending), and since 2020 (Asset Equipment Finance/Leasing and Banking & Financial Institutions).
  • Recognized in the 2022 edition (and since 2017) editions of IFLR1000 – The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms (Banking).

Bar Admission & Education

  • Québec, 1996
  • Accelerated Leadership Program, Harvard Law School, 2016
  • LLB, Université de Montréal, 1995