Canadian Competition Tribunal Orders Divestiture in Waste Merger: Some Lessons Learned
Richard Elliott (Davies Ward) discusses Canadian Competition Tribunal Orders Divestiture in Waste Merger: Some Lessons Learned.
ABSTRACT: The Canadian Competition Tribunal (the “”Tribunal””) has issued its first decision in a fully contested application under the merger provisions of the Competition Act (the “”Act””) in over a decade. On May 29, 2012, further to an application by the Commissioner of Competition (the “”Commissioner””) challenging the acquisition (the “”Merger””) by CCS Corporation (“”CCS””) of Complete Environmental Inc. (“”Complete””), the owner of a landfill site in northeastern British Columbia known as Babkirk, the Tribunal ordered CCS to divest Complete.
The Commissioner’s application raised a number of legal issues, including the threshold and analysis for establishing that a merger has prevented future competition, as opposed to lessening existing competition in the marketplace. Importantly, the case also demonstrates the Commissioner’s willingness to challenge mergers that are not subject to notification under the Act and that have already been completed. Finally, the case also confirms the Commissioner’s readiness to seek the dissolution of a merger as an alternative to divestiture (even though the Tribunal did not grant dissolution in this particular instance). Accordingly, the potential for a post-closing challenge by the Commissioner should be of significance to all parties to a transaction, including vendors, where the transaction may have anticompetitive effects.
Featured News
Idaho Attorney General Orders Split of Kootenai Health and Syringa Hospital
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Court Rejects T-Mobile’s Appeal Bid in Antitrust Case Over Sprint Merger
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Google Requests Judge, Not Jury, to Decide on Antitrust Case
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Apple Faces Contempt Hearings Over App Store Reforms
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
T-Mobile Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Sprint Merger After Appeal Denied
May 16, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI