Given the massive size of Germany's economy, it's surprising how little chatter there is about investment from the country in Canada or vice versa. Eric Bremermann thinks that may be about to change.
Mr. Bremermann, a Canadian corporate lawyer who just left Dale & Lessmann LLP to join Stikeman Elliott LLP in Toronto, speaks German, lived in Germany for a long time, and has family roots near Bremen.
His niche market? Companies from Germany, Switzerland and Austria looking to invest in Canada, and the small but growing number of Canadian firms looking to invest in those countries.
"Coming out of the recent financial turmoil … you look at the Canadian economy, and the German economy, and Swiss and Austrian economy, they've all fared very well," he said. "There's a lot of natural links between these economies."
And he says those links are about to get stronger, as Canada and the European Union negotiate a free trade deal: "I think the business links are just growing."
For a long time, German subsidiaries in manufacturing or pharmaceuticals have set up shop in Canada, he said, a country Germans see as a growing market.
Now, German IT and green-energy companies are also looking to Canada for opportunities, he said, especially with the incentives in Ontario's Green Energy Act.
Germany is recognized as a world leader in solar and wind energy. "There were wind turbines there when I was a kid," said Mr. Bremermann, who was born in Canada but attended school in Germany.
On the move
McCarthy Tétrault LLP has attracted prominent tax lawyer Chia-yi Chua away from Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP as a partner. He will work both on transfer pricing and tax disputes.
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