Senior Counsel
Albert J. Hudec, CFA
Office
Vancouver / Kelowna
Key Practice Area
Mergers & Acquisitions
Year of Call
1981
Qualifications
Alberta Bar (1981)
British Columbia Bar (1994)
Education
Chartered Financial Analyst (1994)
University of Toronto (LL.M., 1981)
University of Toronto (J.D., 1979)
Al Hudec currently focuses his practice on commercial transactions involving Indigenous parties and has been lead lawyer on many of Canada’s most significant Indigenous transactions over the last 12 years. He is also a prominent legal advisor to the BC wine industry, advising on purchase and sale transactions and regulatory matters. Al is an M&A and Corporate Governance practitioner with 40 years of experience in all legal aspects of securities and corporate finance, including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance and independent committee representation, with emphasis on the North American resource (mining, forestry, oil and gas), infrastructure, and technology industries. His practice focuses on cross-border mergers & acquisitions (take-overs and arrangements), board and special/independent committee representation and venture capital financings. Al writes and speaks frequently on a variety of legal topics relating to wine law, aboriginal law, corporate finance and corporate governance.
- Represented Victoria Distillers Inc., local Vancouver Island producers of Empress 1908 Gin, on their sale to Milestone Brands, LLC.
- Counsel to David and Cynthia Enns on their purchase of the iconic Naramata General Store
- Counsel to Heidi Noble, proprietor of JoieFarm Winery, in their recent strategic transaction
- US $1 billion sale of Avigilon Corporation, a leading Canadian technology company, to Motorola Solutions pursuant to a Plan of Arrangement.
- Significant benefits agreements for various Indigenous Groups in connection with LNG projects and associated natural gas pipelines including, First Nations Limited Partnership” a $500 million benefits package for the 16 First Nations along the route of the Pacific Trails natural gas pipeline; benefits agreements with LNG Canada, Kitimat LNG, Petronas and TransCanada Pipelines.
- Various forest industry transactions in including the sale of Wynndel Logging to Canfor; the Sumitomo investment in Pacific Biotechnology and sale of Aboriginal forest tenures.
- Various wine industry transactions and representations including the sales of Laughing Stock and Road 13, representation of BCWI and other industry associations in connection with various regulatory and policy matters including Wine in Grocery.
- Corporate governance – regularly represents the Boards of significant Canadian public and private companies with respect to sensitive transactions and matters involving conflicts of interest.
- Member of the Law Society of British Columbia
- Member of the Law Society of Alberta
- Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors
- Member of the Vancouver Society of Financial Analysts
- Member of the American Bar Association, Business Law Section (Mergers & Acquisitions Committee)
- Member of The Association for Corporate Growth
- Member of the British Columbia Wine Institute
- The Best Lawyers in Canada (2025)
- Lexpert Leading Lawyers in Canada (2024)
- Lexpert Leading Energy & Mining Lawyers (2024)
- Lexpert Leading Infrastructure Lawyers (2024)
- Lexpert Leading Finance and M&A Lawyers (2024)
- Lexpert Leading Mining Lawyers (2023)
- Lexpert Leading Energy Lawyers (2022)
- Martindale-Hubbell Ranking (BV)
- Advocacy work on behalf of the BC wine industry