Auteur: Simon Romano

Peter Beck is a well-known financial expert and President of Swift Trade Inc., Canada”s leading proprietary trading firm. A European-trained chef, Mr. Beck immigrated to Canada in 1979 and set up a number of successful businesses, including a coffee shop, a water bottling company, a pet food delivery service, and ITN Corporation, the first legally operating long distance company in Canada. In 1998, he founded Swift Trade, which was #7 on Profit Magazine”s “10 Hottest Startups in Canada” for 2001, and was named #2 on the “Top 100 Fastest Growing Businesses in Canada” for 2004, also by Profit, with an astounding five-year growth rate of almost 9000%. Mr. Beck has been featured in media across the country, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, CTV News, ROB TV, and Canadian Business. He regularly appears on television to offer commentary on the markets, writes articles for financial publications across the country, and is the co-author of Hedge Funds for Canadians: New Investment Strategies for Winning in Any Market (John Wiley & Sons). Simon Romano is a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP, a 440-lawyer firm with an international reputation in all areas of business law, most notably securities, tax, banking, corporate finance, M&A, securitizations and derivatives, commercial litigation, competition law, commercial real estate, labour/employment and pension law, environmental law, intellectual property and related fields. Mr. Romano practices principally in the area of securities, M&A and finance, as well as acting for private equity funds, income trusts, and alternative trading systems. Mr. Romano has practiced in both Toronto and New York, and was formerly a clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada. During 1995 and 1996, he was Special Counsel to the Ontario Securities Commission, where he dealt with take-over bids as well as other projects. He has written a number of articles, is a frequent speaker at seminars, and was a member of the Ontario Securities Commission”s Securities Advisory Committee. He is particularly active in the area of income trusts, having advised the Livingston International Income Fund and the SIR Royalty Income Fund, among others. He has been recognized by Lexpert/American Lawyer as one of Canada”s top 500 lawyers, and by Chambers Global as one of the world”s leading lawyers.