Canada: Regulator extends National Security Review of Aecon’s takeover by Chinese firm

Construction company Aecon Group Inc said on Monday, February 12, the completion date for its US$1.5 billion sale to China’s CCCC International Holding has been pushed back, as Canada extended a national security review of the deal.

The proposed takeover, originally scheduled to close on February 23, will now close on March 30, Aecon said.  CCCI, the overseas investment and financing arm of engineering and construction company China Communications Construction Co Ltd , said in October it would buy Aecon for US$1.5 billion.

“This is the next step in this specific case. We are following the advice provided to us by the national security agencies,” Karl Sasseville, a spokesman for Canadian Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, said in a written statement Monday. The department will continue to “review the potential national security ‎implications, as we have been doing since day one. We never have and we never will compromise on national security.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said his government will closely monitor security issues when it decides whether to allow the deal, examining the implications for intellectual property protections.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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