Derrick Auch

Partner

About

Derrick Auch is a partner in the Calgary office and practises in the area of corporate finance and securities, general corporate/commercial law and mergers and acquisitions. Derrick joined the firm in 2004.

Derrick works extensively in assisting emerging, as well as established companies in completing both private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate/commercial transactions, compliance with corporate governance and continuous disclosure, going public and other financing transactions.

Derrick acts for a broad range of mid-market and junior issuers whose shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) as well as for various brokerage firms on public and private financings. He has also developed an expertise in mining law, mining law disclosure and oil and gas law disclosure.

Derrick’s practice includes the following:

Restructuring and reorganizing transactions including acquisitions, arrangements, mergers and other reorganizations
Private placements for public and private companies
Public offerings by prospectus
Representing brokerages on public and private financings
General Corporate/Commercial transactions such as unanimous shareholder agreements, joint ventures, management buyouts, shareholders meetings and disputes and incorporation and organization of companies
Extensive experience with the CPC process including prospectuses and qualifying transactions
Continuous disclosure expertise including NI 43-101 – Standards of Mining Disclosure, NI 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities and NI 51-102 – Continuous Disclosure Obligations
Assisting issuers with corporate governance issues

As the supervising lawyer at DLA Piper for StorageVault Canada Inc., Derrick has considerable “consolidation play” experience. He has efficiently and effectively managed numerous M&A, Real Estate, Stock Exchange and Financing transactions when acting for StorageVault in rolling up stores into its portfolio. Since 2015, DLA Piper has lead, or assisted with, over 75 acquisitions for over $2 Billion in assets, helping StorageVault grow from operating approximately 10 stores in April 2015 to 238 in December 2022 (of which 206 are owned by StorageVault).

Derrick was recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert^®Directory (Mining) 2012, 2014-2016, 2018 and Derrick was featured on the cover of Lexpert magazine in May 2011 when he commented on the feature story “The Regulator Debate: Lawyers Take Sides on Ottawa’s Mission to Form a National Securities Regulator”.

Areas of FocusMergers and Acquisitions Energy and Natural Resources Oil and Gas Infrastructure, Construction and Transport Mining and Mineral Resources Corporate Venture Capital Emerging Growth and Venture Capital Equity Capital Markets Private Equity

Bar admissionsAlberta, 1999

EXPERIENCE

Acted for PharmaCorp Rx Inc. in its June 2024 strategic alliance with PharmaChoice Canada Inc. and acquisition of a pharmacy which constituted its PharmaCorp Rx’s Qualifying Transaction as well as the concurrent $28,925,000 common share long form prospectus offering with iA Private Wealth Inc. acting as the exclusive agent to PharmaCorp Rx.
Acted for StorageVault for an aggregate of approximately $95 million of asset purchase transactions in 2023 in 9 distinct transactions. ‎
Acted for StorageVault on various loan transactions in 2023 pursuant to 5 credit facilities involving Canadian charted banks.
Acted for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its January 2023 $150 million financing of 5% convertible senior unsecured debentures ("Debentures") led by Scotia Capital Inc. on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters, including $100 million of Debentures issued on a bought deal basis by short form prospectus and $50 million of Debentures sold on a private placement basis.
Acted for StorageVault for an aggregate of approximately $232 million of asset purchase transactions in 2022 in 18 distinct transactions.
Acted for StorageVault on various loan transactions in 2022 pursuant to 11 credit facilities involving Canadian charted banks.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $57.5 million bought deal short form prospectus Senior Unsecured Hybrid Debenture financing co-led by Scotiabank and CIBC World Markets on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters.
Co-lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. for an aggregate of approximately $270 million of asset purchase transactions in 2021 in 18 distinct acquisitions.
Canadian Counsel for OneTrust LLC in its cross border acquisition of Tugboat Logic.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $75 million bought deal short form prospectus Senior Unsecured Hybrid Debenture financing co-led by Scotia Capital Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and TD Securities Inc. on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters.
Co-lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $275 million acquisition of Real Storage with 38 stores across Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
Co-lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. for the $320 million credit facility used to finance the Real Storage acquisition which involved a syndicate of lenders led by The Bank of Nova Scotia and including The Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Co-lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. for an aggregate of approximately $160 million of asset purchase transactions in 2018, in 10 distinct acquisitions, for 19 stores, including a $66.5 million acquisition from a private vendor of 2 stores located in the Greater Toronto Area.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $34 million acquisition from Access Self Storage Inc. of one store in Toronto, Ontario, two stores in Quebec and three stores in Nova Scotia.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $396 million acquisition of Sentinel Storage with 24 stores across Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Acted for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $270 million revolving credit agreement with a syndicate of lenders led by The Bank of Nova Scotia and including National Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, Raymond James Finance Company of Canada Ltd., Canadian Western Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $135 million bought deal short form prospectus common share financing which included a secondary offering.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $66 Million acquisition from Access Self Storage Inc. of three stores in Montreal, Quebec and two stores in Toronto, Ontario.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $57.5 Million bought deal short form prospectus common share financing.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $15 Million acquisition of one self storage location in Alberta from a private company vendor.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $48 Million acquisition from Access Self Storage Inc. of three self storage locations in Montreal, Quebec and one self storage location in Toronto, Ontario.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in its $22 Million acquisition of one self storage location in Alberta from a private company vendor.
Acted for Boulder Energy Ltd. in the $270 Million going private acquisition by ARC Financial Corp.
Acted for Mount Bastion Oil & Gas Corp. in the $150 Million purchase of assets from Penn West Petroleum Ltd. and the concurrent $162 Million private placement financing.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in the $51 Million acquisition of eight self storage locations from Access Self Storage Inc. and Cubeit Portable Storage Canada Inc.
Lead counsel for StorageVault Canada Inc. in the $52 Million acquisition of four self storage locations from Storage For Your Life Solutions Inc.
Lead counsel for MFRI, Inc. in its $9 Million buyout of its joint venture portion to acquire 100% ownership of Bayou Perma-Pipe Canada.
Acted for Rio Alto Mining Ltd. in its $1.35 Billion Sale to Tahoe Resources Inc. by plan of arrangement to combine companies into a new $4 Billion intermediate precious metals producer.
Acted for Canacol Energy Ltd. on its $140 Million acquisition of Shona Energy Company, Inc. by way of a statutory plan of arrangement.
Lead counsel for a private Alberta oil and gas corporation on the aggregate of $25 Million of common share financings placed in part by Peters & Co. Limited.
Lead counsel representing Big Rock brewery in the conversion from an income trust to a dividend paying corporation.
Represented a public international oil and gas corporation on the $500 Million plan of arrangement acquisition by a US corporation.
Represented an Alberta-based acquiror in the purchase of an internationally-recognized ski resort
Lead counsel representing one of the Alberta oil and gas corporations acquired by an Alberta oil and gas trust for $120 Million.

Languages

Education

LL.B., University of Calgary, 1997

B.Comm., University of Calgary, 1993

Awards

Best Lawyers in Canada (Securities Law), 2019-2025; (Mining Law), 2020-2023
Listed in Lexpert Special Edition: Mining, 2014-2019, 2023
Listed in Lexpert Special Edition: Energy and Mining, 2024
Canadian Legal Lexpert^® Directory (Mining), 2012, 2014-2016, 2018-2024; (Corporate Mid-Market), 2024

Memberships And Affiliations

Member, TSX Venture Exchange's Local Advisory Committee
Member, Alberta Securities Commission's Market Advisory Committee
Member, Securities Law and Oil and Gas Subsections, Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association
Member, Calgary Bar Association
Member, Canadian Olympic team as coach of the long track sprinters at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics
Former Member, Speed Skating Canada's Long Track High Performance Committee