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
