Mark S. Powell

Mark Powell is the head of our Trading & Derivatives practice. Mark has a broad range of experience in the trading and derivatives, assisting clients with the many complexities of this growing industry. This experience extends beyond commodity, interest rate and currency trading to include the trading of equities and other products.

Mark assists funds, producers, governmental entities and other end-users with respect to ISDA master agreements and related documentation every day. Not only does he have extensive experience in negotiating ISDA master agreements, the New York form of credit support annex and the United Kingdom form of credit support annex, he also has negotiated numerous ISDA master equity confirmation agreements.

Beyond ISDA documentation, Mark's practice encompasses providing advice and negotiating other financial trading documentation (long form confirmations, GTCs, etc.) and physical wholesale and retail trading documentation (electricity supply and related services agreements, GasEDIs, NAESBs, condensate supply agreements, etc.).

In addition, Mark has assisted a number of clients in the acquisition and incorporation of Trading & Derivatives businesses including Parkland Fuel's acquisition of Elbow River Marketing, Glencore's acquisition of Viterra and the TMX's acquisition of the NGX (gas and electricity), Watt-Ex (electricity and related services) and NetThruPut (crude) exchanges.

Mark also provides regulatory advice to clients in connection with Canada's G20 commitment to regulate derivatives. Mark is uniquely qualified to provide this advice as, prior to Mark focusing his practice on Trading & Derivatives, Mark gained invaluable securities law experience as (amongst other files and clients) issuer's lead counsel with respect to the issuance of billions of dollars of public and private equity and debt securities. These files have included a project that was awarded Project Finance's "America's Oil and Gas Deal of the Year" and an initial public offering that, at the time, qualified as the largest Canadian exploration and production IPO for the previous ten years.

Select Experience

• MEG Energy Corp. in connection with its US$1 billion offering of 7.00% senior unsecured notes.
• MEG Energy Corp., in connection with its $400 million public bought deal common share financing and concurrent $400 million private placement common share financing. Read more
• ProspEx Resources Ltd. in connection with its $186 million acquisition by Paramount Resources Ltd. by way of plan of arrangement.

Recent Publications

• New Coordinated Rules Relating to the Clearing of Over-the-Counter Derivatives in Canada
• Helpful Amendments to the New Trade Reporting Rules Finalized
• Harmonized Discretionary Relief for New Trading Rules

Blog Posts

• CSA Proposes New Canadian Derivatives Business Conduct Rules and Provides Update on Derivatives Registration Rules
• Alberta Securities Commission Replaces Key Blanket Order for Over-the-Counter Derivatives
• Canadian Securities Administrators Derivatives Committee Issue Consultation Paper on Margin Requirements for Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives