Ben Leith

Partner

 | Toronto

Ben Leith* is a partner in the Real Estate & Development Group at Cassels. Ben’s practice focuses on real estate financings offering support to clients on a wide range of mortgage transactions including credit tenant financings, syndicated bank facilities, project financing and traditional mortgage lending. Ben has acted for a wide range of financial institutions on mid- and large-scale real estate lending transactions.

Over the course of his legal career, Ben has acted on credit facilities securing real and personal property, acquisition financings, asset-based loans, project financings, debt restructurings, high yield bond offerings and private equity investments. Prior to joining Cassels, Ben was Counsel in the Real Property & Planning Group at a national law firm, managing deal teams on debt financing transactions.

Ben graduated from the HBA/LL.B. concurrent degree program at the University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law and the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2007.

Ben’s representative work includes acting for:

  • A major Canadian bank on the acquisition financing of a property in Kingston, Ontario
  • A major Canadian bank in its $45 million secured revolving credit facility in respect of four properties
  • The agent and lenders in respect of a $142 million construction loan in Vaughan, Ontario
  • An insurance company on the refinancing of a commercial real estate asset in Mississauga, Ontario
  • The lenders on a $158 million site servicing facility in respect of a development in Pickering, Ontario
  • A lender in a $15 million land assembly in Toronto, Ontario
  • The agents and lenders in connection with a term mortgage loan and a revolving asset-based loan to a leading meat processor to facilitate its acquisition of new plants
  • A multinational energy company in establishing its global financing program

Ben has presented and written on various topics including the structure of secured lending transactions; real property and the PPSA, credit agreements and legal opinions. Selected publications include:

  • Co-Chair, Perfect Your PPSA Skills Program, Osgoode Professional Development
  • Author, Supreme Court of Canada Sides With Secured Creditor in Fraud Case, National Banking Law Review, October 2011, Volume 30, Number 5

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

  • Best Lawyers in Canada (Real Estate Law)
  • Post Village, Toronto’s Best Lawyers 2022 (Real Estate)
  • Windmill Microlending (pka Immigrant Access Fund Canada)
  • HBA/LLB, Western University, 2007
  • Ontario, 2008
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Law Society of Ontario
  • Ontario Bar Association