‘Takeovers are coming’: Some of Quebec’s biggest companies vulnerable to foreign bids

“Half of Quebec’s 50 biggest publicly traded companies are vulnerable to foreign takeover attempts, new research suggests. It’s a statistical call to arms from a leading corporate expert who argues Quebec is doing the right thing in taking national ownership of the “say no” fight after Ontario ignored it for years.

Yvan Allaire, a former Bombardier Inc. executive who is chairman of Montreal’s Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations, analyzed the capital structures of Quebec’s largest firms and concluded that 24 of the top 50 aren’t equipped to avoid being acquired.

The next wave is going to come and we’ll be in the same position of being taken by surprise [if we don’t act]

“Takeovers are coming,” Mr. Allaire said in an interview Tuesday, noting the last time this subject was studied with any seriousness was in the wake of ownership changes at Canadian miners Inco, Falconbridge and Alcan. “The next wave is going to come and we’ll be in the same position of being taken by surprise [if we don’t act].”

The findings give a sense of what’s at stake for the ruling Parti Québécois government in its effort to give corporate boards more power to reject takeover bids in the wake of Lowe’s Cos abandoned $1.7-billion offer for local hardware darling Rona Inc. Quebec Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau said Friday the PQ plans to introduce legislation, likely in the new year, to give directors the right to take into account the views not only of shareholders but also employees, retirees, suppliers and affected communities after they receive an unsolicited offer» … Read more