Bio

Maria Sountas-Argiropoulos heads the Corporate Practice Group. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos focuses her practice on financing transactions of all kinds, including leveraged acquisitions, private placements, secured and unsecured syndications, mezzanine debt, asset-based loans, subscription lines, and restructuring/debtor-in-possession transactions. In addition, Ms. Sountas- Argiropoulos has experience in the purchase and sale of distressed debt and assets, as well as traditional merger, sale and acquisition transactions. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos represents corporations, private equity sponsors, funds, issuers, investors, agents and senior and subordinated lenders across a wide variety of sectors and industries including technology, sports and entertainment, media, retail, hospitality and food service, health and medical, agriculture, oil and gas and manufacturing. On the lender and investor side, Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos has represented private equity firms such as Cerberus Capital Management, Z Capital Partners, Tennenbaum Capital Partners and Callidus Capital, large and middle- market financial institutions, investment banks (domestic and foreign), the largest provider of credit to American agriculture, the largest single-profession pension fund in Canada and various small, middle and large capital investment managers specializing in credit-related investments. On the borrower and equity sponsor side, Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos has represented, among others, LRN Corporation, Ferrandino & Son, Garden Fresh, RM Holdco/Real Mex Restaurants, Mrs. Fields/Famous Brands, PacSun, Guess?, Yahoo!, Western Digital, Microsemi Corporation. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos received her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, where she graduated as the Silver Medalist and received numerous awards, including the McCarthy Tétrault LLP Prize, the Christopher Robinson Memorial Prize, the Bruce Leonard Prize in Insolvency Studies, and the Alexander David McKenzie Scholarship. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos received her Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Toronto (joint specialist in Political Science and History). Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos is currently the President of the Board of Governors of the Financial Lawyers Conference and a past Chair of the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. She is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos is a contributing author to Directors’ Duties in Canada by the Corporate Governance Group at Bennett Jones LLP. Ms. Sountas-Argiropoulos is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the Province of Ontario, Canada.