Competition Tribunal Approves Rogers-Shaw Merger, but Competition Bureau Doesn’t Relent

Consistent with what we thought proper, Canada’s Competition Tribunal dismissed the Competition Bureau’s complaint following a trial that sought to block the merger between Rogers and Shaw, which also entails Quebecor acquiring Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless unit. However, the decision has been stayed pending the Bureau’s appeal. In appealing, the Bureau appears more interested in pursuing its agenda to block the merger than in looking out for consumers’ best interests. While the process will now be drawn out further, we still expect the deal to close and maintain our probability-adjusted fair value estimate of CAD 38 for Shaw as well as our fair value estimates for Rogers and Quebecor of CAD 70 and CAD 35, respectively.