TORONTO (Reuters) -Canada’s antitrust regulator said on Friday that the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications should not go ahead as it threatens competition and the efficiencies claimed by the companies are not enough to offset that.
The bureau’s response raises uncertainty over the deal closure that now could be heading towards a litigation at the Competition Tribunal. Rogers-Shaw have set July 31 as a date to close the transaction.
The bureau continued with its assertion that the sale of Shaw’s Freedom mobile was not an effective remedy for the merger and it would weaken Freedom’s operations, taking out the “competitive discipline” to the national carriers. The merger would also lead to transfer of wealth from low and middle income groups to the wealthy families of Rogers-Shaw, the bureau said.
The Competition Bureau was responding to the petition filed by Rogers and Shaw earlier this month. Last week in an email response to Reuters, the bureau said that it wanted to speed up the case..
(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal and Ismail Shakil in TorontoEditing by Alistair Bell)
