Archive for the 'Mergers' Category
August 18, 2010
Recent Investment Canada Act Amendments
Significant changes were recent made to Canada’s foreign investment regime. The recent changes coincide with sweeping amendments to the federal Competition Act, including significant changes to Canada’s merger control regime.
August 15, 2010
The Competition Bureau announced August 13ththat it would not challenge Shaw Communication Inc.’s proposed acquisition of the specialty television and over-the-air businesses of Canwest Global Communications Corp. Shaw is a broadcast distribution undertaking, its affiliate (Corus Entertainment) is a broadcasting company and Canwest owns and operates an over-the-air television network (as well as a portfolio of specialty television channels).
August 13, 2010
The Competition Bureau has announced that divestitures have been agreed to in the recent Novartis/Alcon transaction, and that it has reached an agreement with Novartis AG to resolve competition issues associated with its proposed acquisition of Alcon, Inc.
July 30, 2010
On July 28, 2010, the Competition Bureau announced that it had reached an agreement with Nufarm Limited to resolve competition concerns raised by its acquisition of AH Marks Holding Limited.
July 20, 2010
Like most other major jurisdictions, under Canadian competition law merger control is one of the three main pillars of Canadian competition law (together with conspiracy/cartel and abuse of dominance/monopoly rules). As a result of amendments made to the Competition Act (the “Act”) in 2009, Canada now has a U.S.-style two-stage merger control regime. Together with a number of other recent amendments to the Act, the adoption of a new two-stage merger control system in Canada is one of the most significant changes to Canadian competition law in twenty-five years.
July 1, 2010
On June 29, 2010 the Competition Bureau announced that it had reached and agreement with IESI-BFC Ltd. (BFI) and Waste Services Inc. (WSI) in relation to their proposed merger agreement. Under the Consent Agreement concluded in this case, the merging parties will divest commercial waste collection assets that include vehicles, customer contracts, bins and other equipment in several Canadian cities including Edmonton, Calgary, Hamilton, Ottawa, as well as Simcoe County.
June 15, 2010
On June 14, 2010, the Honourable Madam Justice Hansen of the Federal Court of Canada (“FCA”) dismissed U.S. Steel Corporation’s and U.S. Steel Canada Inc.’s (“U.S. Steel”) motion challenging the constitutional validity of section 40 of the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”).
June 15, 2010
RECENT CANADIAN MERGER CONTROL NEWS
Competition Bureau Issues New Policy on Hostile Transactions
On June 2, 2010 the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) published its new Policy on Hostile Transactions (the “Hostile Bid Policy”). According to the Bureau, the Hostile Bid Policy “describes the Bureau’s general approach to communicating information to a bidder and target during the course [of a merger review by the Bureau].” The Bureau’s new Hostile Hostile Bid Policy is the most recent in a series of new or updated merger-related guidelines and reports that the Bureau has recently issued following the recent adoption in Canada of a new two-track, U.S.-style merger control regime. Other recently issued merger-related guidelines and reports that the Bureau has issued in the past week include its new Merger Review Performance Report (analyzing notified transactions since its last Merger Review Performance Report in 2007) and its Draft Fee and Service Standards Handbook for Merger-Related Matters, which has been issued for public comment. For more see: Competition Bureau Publishes New Policy on Hostile Transactions.
Templates/precedents and checklists to run promotional contests in Canada
Templates/precedents and checklists to comply with Canadian anti-spam law (CASL)
