Canada’s antitrust watchdog is still seeking a “full block” of Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of a rival, setting the stage for a trial to begin next week.
(Bloomberg) — Canada’s antitrust watchdog is still seeking a “full block” of Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of a rival, setting the stage for a trial to begin next week.
The wireless and cable company says it’s a waste of the court’s time.
Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell believes that Rogers’ C$20 billion ($14.7 billion) deal for Shaw Communications Inc. will reduce competition in what’s already an “oligopolistic” market for communications services, Derek Leschinsky, a lawyer for the country’s antitrust body, said Tuesday during a pre-trial conference.
Boswell filed suit to stop the deal in May. The following month, Rogers and Shaw struck a deal to sell the Shaw’s Freedom Mobile division to Montreal-based Quebecor Inc. to address the biggest concern in the merger.
But Boswell’s Competition Bureau is pressing ahead with its case, arguing that the sale of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor will weaken it as a competitor because it separates the wireless provider from Shaw wireline infrastructure on which it is dependent.
Lawyers for Rogers and Shaw accused the bureau of focusing on the deal’s original structure — which would have seen Rogers buy all of Shaw’s assets — instead of the revised one, which includes the divestiture of Freedom.
“We are now litigating a conjured transaction. It isn’t going to happen,” said Jonathan Lisus, a lawyer for Rogers. “It is a regrettable waste of scarce judicial resources.”
Tuesday’s conference was set up by Chief Justice Paul Crampton to discuss evidence, procedure and potential solutions to the impasse. A full hearing on the merger before Canada’s Competition Tribunal is scheduled to begin on Nov. 7.
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