In August 2019, Genworth Financial, Inc. (Genworth) announced that it had agreed to sell its approximate 57% shareholding in Canadian subsidiary Genworth MI Canada Inc. (Genworth Canada) to Canadian headquartered Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (Brookfield) for approximately C$2.4 billion. Genworth Canada, through one of its subsidiaries, is Canada’s largest private-sector residential mortgage insurer. The deal is expected to close before the end of 2019. One of the more interesting aspects of the announced deal is…

Non-Canadian secured lenders should be aware that they may have a filing obligation under the Investment Canada Act (Act) if they acquire control of a Canadian business in connection with the realization on security granted for a loan or other financial assistance. Until 2009, such transactions were entirely exempt from the Act. Specifically, paragraph 10(1)(c) of the Act classified a transaction involving “the acquisition of control of a Canadian business in connection with the realization…

In a recent speech given at the Canadian Bar Association’s Competition Law Spring Conference, Commissioner of Competition, Matthew Boswell, announced the Bureau’s decision to place more focus on identifying non-notifiable mergers which could potentially raise competition law concerns. While the Competition Act (“the Act”) requires pre-merger notification of certain proposed mergers when prescribed monetary thresholds are exceeded, the Act has application to all mergers, both proposed and recently completed, where such mergers prevent or lessen,…

The Competition Bureau announced the 2019 transaction-size pre-merger notification threshold under the Competition Act increased to C$96 million from C$92 million, effective February 2, 2019. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada also announced new foreign investment review thresholds under the Investment Canada Act, effective January 1, 2019. Competition Act In general terms, certain transactions that exceed prescribed thresholds under the Competition Act trigger a pre-merger notification filing requirement; such transactions cannot close until notice has…

Ad Standards announces new process for handling competitor advertising complaints. Effective Monday, February 11, 2019, Ad Standards (ASC) will implement a new process for handling complaints between competitor advertisers.  While ASC has offered a confidential procedure to deal with such disputes since 1976, it recently conducted a review to determine if the dispute resolution service could be provided in a more efficient, cost-effective and practical manner.  ASC believes that its new competitor Advertising Dispute Procedure…

Investment Canada Act threshold exemption for European Union companies directly acquiring Canadian businesses increases to $1.5 billion effective September 21, 2017 Effective September 21, 2017, most of the provisions contained in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act (Act), including those provisions amending the Investment Canada Act, will come into force. Currently, most direct acquisitions of Canadian businesses by foreign investors are exempt from the pre-merger review and approval process under…