LONDON, ONTARIO, Jan 31, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX)
Todd Gillick, President and Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed London Economic Acceleration Funding Corp (LEAFCORP), announced today the company has retained Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, (Gowlings) as its legal firm. Gowlings employs more than 750 business-savvy legal professionals and the LEAFCORP files will be under the direction of Nurhan Aycan, Partner.
Mr Gillick identified the need for LEAFCORP to bring the best in professional services and team members to the table and Gowlings was a natural choice. He said, “LEAFCORP will be supporting and investing in the best and the brightest London based ideas, innovations and entrepreneurs. It makes good sense to have expert and specialized legal minds at the table and Gowlings, as a pre-eminent Canadian law firm knows this space – everything from individual contracts to global public offerings, intellectual property, enforcement of patents, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights.”
During his recent State of the City Address, London’s Mayor Joe Fontana announced the formation of the commercialization company as a direct result of a call from the Mayor’s Economic Prosperity Council. The MEPC had identified the need for a locally driven and focussed funding source for companies seeking second stage investment. LEAFCORP is privately owned and funded by private equity firms and individual investors.
LEAFCORP is a London based and driven commercialization company. The primary purpose of LEAFCORP is to identify, support and invest in early stage London companies that require enabling capital to accelerate market entry and growth. LEAFCORP is looking for innovative technologies and the talent to generate knowledge-based employment and entrepreneurial business for London. To that end LEAFCORP has established a formal relationship with WORLDiscoveries and is currently vetting proposals from several companies. Formal announcements of initial investments are expected within 30 days.
Mr. Gillick also noted TD Bank has been chosen as LEAFCORP’s financial institution and has also retained Price Waterhouse Coopers to provide accounting services.
