The Canadian government blocked the company BHP-Billiton from acquiring Potash Corp, giving the would-be acquirer 30 days to improve on its offer. Why, after Alcan, Falconbridge, Inco and others would the Canadian government even consider approving this deal; because Canada, it seems, is easily intimidated when it comes to the rough game of international competition. […]

*(The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of IGOPP or of its board of directors) In April 1990, the Pennsylvania legislature enacted one of the strongest anti-takeover bill passed by any state. The immediate purpose of that bill was to block the Canadian Belzberg family in its attempt to acquire Armstrong World Industries, […]

[Caveat: This brief is submitted to the Competition Review Panel as a personal statement and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Institute or of its board of directors] The strength and size of the latest wave of foreign takeovers of Canadian corporations has spurred a sharp debate about their costs and benefits to […]

[ … ] The main question in most of the studies we survey is: Does disproportional ownership destroy shareholder value? We will argue that, while the literature has uncovered some robust evidence, this question has proven difficult to address empirically. A related issue is whether the widespread use of mechanisms to unbundle cash flow rights […]

On May 7, 2007, Alcoa launched a bid to take over Alcan. It is qualified as “hostile” takeover bid because no previous arrangements had been made with the Alcan board of directors in this regard. This event, which follows on the heels of several other takeovers of Canadian businesses by foreign interests in recent months, […]