Recapping Foreigner Home Ban and Rogers-Shaw Back and Forth

Recapping the latest two developments over the Christmas-NY period.

• Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes for two years. The ban, passed by Parliament on Jun 23, came into effect on Jan 1 with several exceptions that will allow individuals such as refugees and permanent residents who aren’t citizens to buy homes. It will also only apply to city dwellings.
• Court rules in favour of Rogers-Shaw merger (Dec 29). The Competition Tribunal said Competition Commissioner, Matthew Boswell, failed to prove that the Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw (and a related deal that will see Quebecor Inc take ownership of most of Shaw’s wireless assets) would cause significant harm to competition in the industry, clearing one of the final hurdles to the C$20B merger of two of the nation’s largest telecommunications firms. Shaw shares jumped 9% and Rogers 6% on the Dec 30 announcement whilst RBC have since cut Shaw from outperform to sector perform.
• But Federal Court of Appeal grants emergency suspension of decision (Jan 2). Following Boswell’s appeal of the decision, the Federal Court of Appeal has suspended the Tribunal decision until an injunction can be heard. One potential basis for an appeal is the fact the Competition Tribunal chose to look at the two deals together. The proposed sale of Shaw’s wireless assets to Quebecor wasn’t arranged until after Boswell filed suit against Rogers and Shaw. The deadline for closing the deal is Jan 31.