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The Government of Canada has announced updates to the
transaction size thresholds for review under
the
Competition Act and
Investment
Canada Act. The updated thresholds decreased slightly under
both acts from the 2020 thresholds, which may result in more
transactions that will be subject to review than there were last
year.
Competition Act
Transactions that exceed both the (i) transaction-size
threshold, and (ii), the party-size threshold, require pre-closing
merger notification to the Competition Bureau before they can
close.
Transaction Size Threshold: The transaction size
threshold has decreased from $96 million to
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Most foreign investors will enter Canada without a hiccup. However, a small number of transactions may receive closer scrutiny under Canada’s foreign investment review law, the Investment Canada Act (ICA). In 2021, that scrutiny is increasingly likely to be in the form of review under the ICA’s national security review process rather than its “net benefit to Canada” review process.
As the monetary thresholds for “net benefit to Canada” review have risen dramatically in the past six years (at least for private sector investors), fewer transactions are subject to ministerial approval under this process. At the same time, however, the ICA’s national security review process gives the Canadian government wide discretion to screen a broader range of investments - the acquisition of an existing business or the establishment of a new Canadian business, whether large or small, and whether involving minority interests
Welcome to the February issue of
Blakes Competitive
Edge, a monthly publication of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group.
Blakes
Competitive Edge provides an overview of recent developments
in Canadian competition law, including updates on enforcement
activity by the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau), recent
initiatives and key trends.
Key Highlights
The number of completed reviews in January 2021 (15) is only 13
per cent lower than the number of completed reviews from January
2020 (17) and 27 per cent lower than the number of completed
reviews from January 2019 (19), continuing to suggest that the
number of filings is recovering after the reduction in filings
observed in 2020 as a result of COVID-19.
Welcome to the February issue of
Blakes Competitive Edge, a monthly publication of the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group.
Blakes Competitive Edge provides an overview of recent developments in Canadian competition law, including updates on enforcement activity by the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau), recent initiatives and key trends.
Key Highlights
The number of completed reviews in January 2021 (15) is only 13 per cent lower than the number of completed reviews from January 2020 (17) and 27 per cent lower than the number of completed reviews from January 2019 (19), continuing to suggest that the number of filings is recovering after the reduction in filings observed in 2020 as a result of COVID-19.
The Government of Canada recently announced changes to the monetary thresholds to determine whether a review is required under the Competition Act and Investment Canada Act.