Quotes: Reactions to Canada's Rogers-Shaw deal approval

Quebecor

31/03/2023 16:29

March 31 (Reuters) - Canada on Friday approved Rogers
Communications Inc's  RCIb.TO  C$20 billion buyout of Shaw
Communications  SJRb.TO  after securing commitments to promote
competition in a country with some of the highest wireless bills
in the world.
    Below are reactions to the news of the approval for a deal
that was announced in March 2021:
    
    ROSA ADDARIO, SPOKESPERSON, INTERNET ADVOCACY GROUP
OPENMEDIA
    "Videotron is already a carrier in Canada. We already have
that as a provider and in no way does selling one company to the
biggest telecom giant in Canada bring cheaper prices or more
competition for people in Canada. This is undoubtedly going to
harm our competition, our choice and will make our bills more
expensive." 
    "The fact of the matter is any way you slice it, this deal
is bad for Canadians. It's as bad for us as it was when it was
initially proposed and Minister Champagne has stepped out of the
way essentially to allow it to go through." 
    
    JOHN LAWFORD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CANADIAN ADVOCACY GROUP
PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY CENTRE
    "The announcement entrenches the present Canadian wireless
market structure for the next decade. Canadian consumers can
take count on paying for their number one position in wireless
service costs in the major economies for the foreseeable
future."
    
    MATTHEW DOLGIN, ANALYST AT MORNINGSTAR
    "There's nothing too much in the requirements that are
surprising. Many of the requirements of Rogers are things the
company already announced it would do when it announced the
merger. This just holds them to it. But it doesn't change our
view of what the merger means to Rogers."
    
    MICHAEL OSBORNE, A COMPETITION LAWYER AT LAW FIRM COZEN
O'CONNOR
    "This is an unprecedented agreement that I hope remains
exceptional. The circumstances in which it is appropriate to do
this are incredibly rare."
    "Imagine there is an another case where the minister decides
he's kind of feeling his oats and says I want to start
regulating all these things, I don't trust the competition
bureau to get it right. I'm going to start politically
interfering in mergers."
    
    SHAW SHAREHOLDER RYAN BUSHELL, PRESIDENT AND PORTFOLIO
MANAGER AT NEWHAVEN ASSET MANAGEMENT
    "I'm not surprised that they are forcing more concessions
out of Rogers and I'll be interested to see now where the Roger
share price goes in the next year or two as they digest this –
they're going to have to take on some debt, there will be
integration challenges but also synergies. I'll be interested if
we can get it a little lower than it is today."
    
    ANALYSTS AT NATIONAL BANK OF CANADA FINANCIAL MARKETS
RESEARCH
    "It took two years plus two weeks, two days, and nearly two
hours for the last regulatory approval to come after Rogers and
Shaw first announced their initial arrangement at 7 A.M. on
March 15, 2021."
    "We'll first need to see how Rogers steps into Shaw and
Quebecor into Freedom as well as outside of Quebec before
necessarily anticipating more aggressive moves by ISED
(Innovation, Science and Economic Department)."


 (Compiled by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru)
 ((Eva.Mathews@thomsonreuters.com;))