If you read between the lines, some of the country's top competition lawyers say, the federal government's anti-monopoly watchdog recently sent Canadian companies a warning: If you are merging with a rival, you could face extra scrutiny. What some see as a salvo from the Competition Bureau, which obtained sweeping new powers in 2009, appears between the lines in the regulator's recently released merger-review guidelines.
Not everyone sees the rewording of the guidelines as a warning sign, however. Most agree that, so far, the Competition Bureau has been fairly cautious about issuing information requests. Dany Assaf said few mergers in Canada require the scrutiny of a supplemental information request. He doesn't anticipate major changes as a result of the new guidelines.
"They are more neutral in tone … they are very matter of fact," Danny said.
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