Canada clears US$14.8bil Rogers-Shaw deal with tough conditions

Done deal: Champagne speaks during a news conference about the merger in the telecoms sector on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The merger unites two of Canada’s wealthiest families, whose companies have for long fought for market share. — Bloomberg

TORONTO: Canada approves Rogers Communications Inc’s C$20bil (US$14.8bil or RM65.3bil) buyout of Shaw Communications after securing binding commitments to pay financial penalties if it failed to create new jobs and invest to expand its network.

The final nod from Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne capped two years of antitrust uncertainty and paved the way for the creation of Canada’s No. 2 telecom firm in a market with some of the highest wireless bills in the world.