TORONTO — The government of Canada’s Competition Bureau, the regulatory body that unsuccessfully tried to thwart a multimillion-dollar merger between Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, has been ordered to pay close to $13 million CDN to the companies for its “unreasonable” efforts designed to prevent the deal from closing.
The transaction, in which Rogers agreed to purchase all of the issued and outstanding shares of Shaw for approximately $26 billion CDN, inclusive of debt, included the indirect acquisition by Rogers of Shaw’s subsidiary, Freedom Mobile. That entity was then spun to Videotron, owned by Quebecor, for $2 billion CDN.
That seemed to seal the deal for Rogers, which had seen resistance from Canada’s regulatory chief in charge of competition. Alas, it did not, in the view of the Competition Commissioner, Matthew Boswell.
Now that the deal is done, Boswell’s actions have resulted in financial penalties, if you will, courtesy of the Competition Tribunal in Ottawa.
The Commissioner will be ordered to pay counsel fees of $414,720 CDN to Rogers and $416,187 CDN to Shaw, plus applicable HST (top-level taxes in Canada).
The Commissioner will also be ordered to compensate Rogers and Shaw for “reasonable disbursements” in the amount of $9,298,152.58 CDN for Rogers, and $2,836,920.30 CDN for Shaw, plus applicable HST.
Rogers’ deal with Shaw largely reflects its mobile and wireless business.
— With reports from RBR+TVBR in North York, Ont.
