Tausi Insider

Rio Tinto PLC has been unable to reach an agreement with Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. about how to balance the preferential treatment it is extending to one set of minority shareholders over the rest in a multibillion-dollar takeover, and it has decided to revert back to its original takeover deal terms. Last week, Turquoise Hill said it was indefinitely postponing the shareholder vote on the proposed $4.2-billion takeover of the company by Rio Tinto as Quebec’s top securities regulator, the Autorité des marchés financier (AMF), studies whether a backdoor deal Rio cut with dissident shareholders is legal. Rio earlier reached an agreement with Pentwater Capital Management LP and SailingStone Capital Partners LLC, under which the two U.S. investors would be paid out 80 per cent of the $43-a-share takeover amount being offered to all Turquoise Hill shareholders and, after a ruling from an arbitrator, the remaining 20 per cent, plus interest, and potentially much more. The arrangement c...

The Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) plant is seen in Sorel, Quebec, Canada October 11, 2022. CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters The head of a hedge fund who complained to Quebec’s security regulator about Rio Tinto PLC’s preferential back door deal with two dissident shareholders pertaining to its pending takeover of Turquoise Hill Resources says he feels vindicated the giant miner has been forced to offer all minority shareholders the same deal. “The Quebec securities regulator, and any other regulator that was involved, should pat themselves on the back for a job well done,” Jeff Banfield, partner with Caravel Capital Investments Inc. said in an interview. “You literally saw a one hundred billion mining behemoth go, ‘Okay, okay, don’t get upset.” Last week, Turquoise Hill said that Quebec’s l’Autorité des marchés financier had “public interest concerns” about the preferential deal it negotiated with Pentwater Capital Management LP and SailingStone Capital Partners LLC, under which the pair w...

Elon Musk speaks during an event at the E3 gaming convention, in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 13, 2019. Mike Blake/Reuters Put off by Elon Musk’s muscular management style? Move to us! That’s the pitch being used by talent-starved technology firms trying to lure thousands of former Twitter Inc TWTR-N employees laid off by the social media company under its new owner. Twitter has fired top executives and enforced steep job cuts with little warning following Musk’s tumultuous takeover of the social media platform. About half of the work force – around 3,700 employees – has been laid off. Hundreds more are reported to have quit as a result of his sweeping reforms. On Monday, the head of French operations was the latest senior manager to leave. Spying opportunity, some companies are now trying to pick up experienced engineering talent by appealing to their disdain for the methods of the world’s richest person. Katie Burke, chief people officer at U.S. software company Hubspot, blasted Mu...

HSBC Canada ranks among the top dozen domestic players in commercial lending and debt capital markets, and the top 20 advisers on mergers and acquisitions, according to data service Refinitiv. Reinhard Krause/Reuters Rival banks are targeting HSBC Bank Canada’s talent and corporate clients as the country’s seventh-largest lender begins an anticipated year-long wait for approval of a takeover by Royal Bank of Canada RY-T. All six major domestic banks got a look at HSBC Canada’s operations during a two-month sales process that ended Tuesday with RBC’s announcement of a $13.5-billion acquisition. Headhunters and executives at rival lenders say the five banks that missed out on the big win are now fighting for a consolation prize, in the form of HSBC Canada employees and client relationships. “We know that there were other financial institutions – not limited to the Big Six banks – who were looking at both the clients as well as the talent at HSBC Canada,” said Adam Dean, founder of recr...

Rogers and Shaw applications are pictured on a cellphone in Ottawa on May 9, 2022. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press A House of Commons industry and technology committee is preparing to call a second public hearing into Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposed $20-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. before the end of the month, according to sources. The committee, which recommended against the deal in a report published in March of 2022, plans to take another look at the takeover, as it now involves the divestiture of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron Ltd., according to four people familiar with the matter. The sources declined to be identified as they are not authorized to discuss the committee’s plans publicly. The committee comprises MPs from the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois. Its recommendations are non-binding but could put pressure on Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, whose approval is required for t...

Bharat Masrani, Chief Executive Officer of TD Bank Group, outside the bank's offices in downtown Toronto, on Sept. 3, 2020. Fred Lum/Tausi Insider Bank of Montreal’s BMO-T major takeover of California-based Bank of the West has received the final green light from U.S. regulators, shifting the attention to another pending deal by Toronto-Dominion Bank TD-N that will expand its footprint further south of the border. Regulators approved BMO’s takeover of the lender from BNP Paribas BNPQY on Tuesday, ushering in the final stage of the largest purchase of a U.S. bank by a Canadian lender after the deal bumped up against costly deadline delays and heightened scrutiny. As TD navigates its deal to scoop up Tennessee-based First Horizon Corp., FHN-N the bank is also facing mounting criticism of financial mergers in the United States. The scrutiny is prolonging some of the most transformative deals in the sector’s history. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the ...

Vicky Eatrides, new Chairperson and CEO of the CRTC, in the regulator's offices in Gatineau, Quebec on Jan. 19. Blair Gable/Blair Gable Photography Vicky Eatrides, the new new chair of Canada’s broadcast and telecommunications regulator, wants to make it clear that lowering cellphone and internet bills is a top priority for her. “What I really want is for Canadians to be able to answer the question ‘What has the CRTC done for me?’ and have that be something meaningful,” Ms. Eatrides said in an interview two weeks into her five-year term. She is starting her role at the regulator amid the intense scrutiny of Canada’s telecommunications sector. The legal proceedings of Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. are ongoing, attracting unprecedented attention to the inner workings of the telecom industry and the future of cellular service competition in Canada. Meanwhile, two Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission policies, concerning indu...

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed the Competition Bureau’s challenge of Rogers Communications Inc.’s RCI-B-T proposed $20-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. SJR-B-T, bringing a deal that has faced repeated hurdles for close to two years a major step closer to the finish line. Final approval for the takeover, which would combine Canada’s two largest cable networks and create an opportunity for Montreal-based telecom Videotron Ltd. to expand its business westward, now rests with federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Mr. Champagne said in a statement on Tuesday after the court ruling that he will issue a decision “in due course.” In order to approve the transaction, Mr. Champagne has to allow the transfer of Shaw’s wireless licences to Quebecor Inc.’s QBR-B-T Videotron, which has struck a deal to acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless carrier for $2.85-billion. The federal government has said its priority is to ensure that the deal between Rogers and S...

The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed the Competition Bureau’s challenge of Rogers Communications Inc.’s RCI-B-T proposed $20-billion takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. SJR-B-T, bringing a deal that has faced repeated hurdles for close to two years a major step closer to the finish line. Final approval for the takeover, which would combine Canada’s two largest cable networks and create an opportunity for Montreal-based telecom Videotron Ltd. to expand its business westward, now rests with federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Mr. Champagne said in a statement on Tuesday after the court ruling that he will issue a decision “in due course.” In order to approve the transaction, Mr. Champagne has to allow the transfer of Shaw’s wireless licences to Quebecor Inc.’s QBR-B-T Videotron, which has struck a deal to acquire Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless carrier for $2.85-billion. The federal government has said its priority is to ensure that the deal between Rogers and S...

Members of Parliament questioned government officials and industry experts on Wednesday about how the proposed takeover of Shaw Communications Inc. by Rogers Communications Inc. will affect the competitiveness of Canada’s telecommunications industry. Several MPs expressed concerns about the proposed takeover during the second public hearing convened on the matter by the House of Commons industry and technology committee. The committee, which includes MPs from the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois, recommended against the deal early last year. The Liberal, Conservative and New Democrat MPs decided to re-examine the issue in light of the proposed divestiture of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile wireless carrier to Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron Ltd. for $2.85-billion. The hearing took place the day after the Federal Court of Appeal handed the telecoms a major victory in a $20-billion takeover battle that has spanned nearly two years. The final approval now rests wi...