Competition & Antitrust

Competition law is constantly evolving in Canada and around the world. Canadian and global entities are finding that merger reviews are increasingly onerous, and business practices are being scrutinized more closely by enforcement agencies for competition law considerations. In Canada, the Competition Bureau is aggressively deploying its investigative powers with a renewed readiness to commence enforcement actions. As a result, sophisticated and practical counselling at an early stage, together with active and ongoing competition law compliance, are more important than ever.

The Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group is widely acknowledged as the largest and top-ranked competition law and foreign investment review practice in Canada. We draw strength from our deep bench of experienced lawyers, including many of the strongest women lawyers in Canada. For more information about our powerhouse women in competition law, please consult Blakes Women in Competition Law. Our lawyers work collaboratively with clients to secure approvals for transactions and facilitate other strategic objectives in compliance with Canada’s antitrust and foreign investment regime under the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act and other pertinent laws and regulations.

We are regularly retained as trusted advisors by major domestic and international companies and law firms for all types of competition law and foreign investment matters. For example, we assist with mergers, acquisitions and other business arrangements that may be reviewed by the Bureau, foreign investments into Canada by non-Canadian firms, competition law litigation matters, cartel investigations, abuse of dominance investigations, distribution and pricing practices, and advertising matters.

Our highly skilled and experienced competition lawyers have a proven track record of success in acting for clients on high-stakes transactions and investigations, many of which involve multinational coordination among counsel and agencies in the United States, Europe and other jurisdictions. We understand how Canadian antitrust and foreign investment laws fit within the broader context of complex corporate transactions and business strategies.

Recent Experience

BCE Inc. on the C$4.7-billion sale of its ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to Rogers Communications Inc.
AstraZeneca AB on its US$2-billion acquisition of Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Advent International Corporation on its proposed US$6.3-billion acquisition of Nuvei Corporation, a Canadian fintech payment platform
Bell Media Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE Inc., in its C$410-million acquisition of the Canadian business of OUTFRONT Media Inc.
Fission Uranium Corp. on its C$1.14-billion acquisition by Paladin Energy.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. on its proposed acquisition of Stelco Holdings Inc., a transaction representing an enterprise value of approximately C$3.4-billion.
Royal Bank of Canada on its C$13.5-billion acquisition of HSBC Bank of Canada.
OMERS on its C$1.35-billion sale of LifeLabs to Quest Diagnostics Incorporated.
Saint-Gobain on its C$1.325-billion acquisition of Building Products of Canada Corp.
Secure Energy Services Inc. on its CAD$2.3 billion enterprise value merger with Tervita Corporation before the Competition Bureau, Competition Tribunal and Federal Court of Appeal.
Canadian competition counsel to AerCap Holdings N.V. on its acquisition of 100 per cent of GE Capital Aviation Services from General Electric in exchange for 111.5 million newly issued AerCap shares, C$24-billion of cash and C$1-billion of AerCap notes and/or cash.
Intact Financial Corporation on its proposed C$12.3-billion acquisition, together with Tryg A/S, of RSA Insurance Group Plc.
Louis Vuitton SE on its US$16.2-billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co.
London Stock Exchange Group plc on its US$27-billion acquisition of Refinitiv.
Elanco Animal Health Incorporated on its US$7.6-billion purchase of Bayer AG's animal health business.
Harris Corporation on its US$34-billion merger with L3 Technologies, Inc.
Kinder Morgan Canada Limited on its C$1.8-billion acquisition by Pembina Pipeline Corporation.
Red Hat, Inc. on its US$34-billion sale to IBM.
PayPal Holdings, Inc. on its US$400-million acquisition of Hyperwallet Systems Inc.
The Stars Group Inc. in connection with its announced US$15-billion enterprise value merger of equals with Flutter Entertainment Inc.
Bell Canada in connection with its C$3.9-billion acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) and in its sale of a portion of MTS wireless subscribers and assignment of certain dealer locations to TELUS Corp.
Sappi Canada Enterprises Inc. on its acquisition of Rayonier A.M. Canada Enterprises Inc.’s pulp mill and related assets in Matane, Quebec.
Amazon.com, Inc. on its US$13.7-billion acquisition of Whole Foods Markets Inc.
Digital Colony Partners and EQT Infrastructure IV Fund on their US$14.3-billion proposed acquisition of Zayo Group Holdings, Inc.
Stewart Information Services Corporation on its US$1.2-billion sale to Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
Trinidad Drilling Ltd. with respect to the hostile take-over bid made by Ensign Energy Services Inc.
Praxair Inc. in connection with its proposed US$33.9-billion combination with Linde AG.
General Electric Company on its C$11.1-billion merger of GE Transportation with Wabtec Corporation.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation on its C$23-billion acquisition of Andeavor.
Kinder Morgan Canada Limited with respect to the C$4.5-billion sale of the Trans Mountain Pipeline System and Trans Mountain Pipeline System Expansion project to the Government of Canada.
Agrium Inc. in connection with its US$36-billion merger of equals transaction with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.
Essilor International S.A. in connection with its €46-billion combination with Luxottica Group S.p.A.
Superior Plus Corp. in connection with its C$412-million acquisition of the retail propane business of Gibson Energy Inc. and its C$932-million proposed acquisition of Canexus Corporation.
The Washington Companies on its US$1.2-billion acquisition of Dominion Diamond Corporation.
Sagard Holdings and Fairfax Financial on their US$575-million acquisition of the business of Performance Sports Group Ltd.
Pembina Pipeline Corporation in connection with its US$9.7-billion acquisition of Veresen Inc.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in connection with its approximately £71-billion acquisition of SABMiller plc and the US$12-billion sale of the Miller Brands business to Molson Coors.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. on its US$7.2-billion acquisition of Patheon N.V.
Bell Canada on its C$594-million acquisition of Glentel Inc. and sale of 50 per cent of Glentel to Rogers Communications Inc.
Holcim Ltd. on its C$50-billion merger with Lafarge S.A.
Office Depot, Inc. on its US$6.3-billion transaction with Staples, Inc.
CanEra Energy Corp. on its C$1.1-billion acquisition by Crescent Point Energy Corp.
Element Financial Corporation on the acquisition of PHH Corporation’s Fleet Management Services business for C$1.4-billion.
GlaxoSmithKline on the Canadian competition law approval of its three-part C$25-billion transaction with Novartis.
Foster Wheeler AG on its US$3.2-billion acquisition by Amec plc.
Marine Harvest ASA on its acquisition of a significant minority interest in Grieg Seafood ASA.
Procter & Gamble Co. on the C$2.9-billion acquisition of its Pet Food Business by Mars Inc.
Pearson Canada Inc./Penguin Random House on an inquiry commenced by the Commissioner of Competition into alleged anti-competitive conduct in the markets for eBooks in Canada.
Nestlé S.A. on its €6.5-billion acquisition of Galderma Pharma S.A. and Galderma International S.A.S.
Continental AG on its US$1.9-billion acquisition of Veyance Technologies Inc.
Merck & Co. on the C$14.2-billion sale of its non-prescription medicine and consumer care business to Bayer.
Marubeni Corporation and Gavilon Holdings, LLC on the C$2.7-billion acquisition of Gavilon by Marubeni Corporation.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in respect of the Canadian Competition Act approval of its C$13.6-billion acquisition of Life Technologies Corporation.
Omnicom Group Inc. and Publicis Groupe S.A. in connection with their US$35.1-billion merger to create Publicis Omnicom Group.
Investor AB (publ) and EQT IV Limited on the US$4-billion agreement to sell the Gambro Group to Baxter International Inc.
ExxonMobil Canada Ltd. on its acquisition of Celtic Exploration Ltd. for C$3.1-billion.
Bell on its C$3.38-billion acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Montréal-based Astral Media Inc.
Nexen Inc. on its C$15.1-billion acquisition by CNOOC Limited.
Bell, a member of the investor group, on the C$1.1-billion acquisition of Canadian data centre operator Q9 Networks Inc.
Outokumpu Oyj on its definitive agreement to acquire Inoxum from ThyssenKrupp AG for a value of US$3.1-billion.
Bell and Rogers Communications Inc. on their acquisition of a net 75 per cent ownership position in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL hockey franchise, Toronto Raptors NBA basketball franchise, and Toronto FC MLS soccer franchise.
Daylight Energy Ltd. on its C$2.2-billion acquisition by China Petrochemical Corporation, known as Sinopec Group.
Bank of America/MBNA Canada on the acquisition of MBNA Canada's credit card portfolio by TD Bank Group in a transaction valued at C$8.5-billion.
Maple Group Acquisition Corporation in connection with its acquisition of TMX Group Inc. in a transaction valued at C$3.7-billion.
Intact Financial Corporation on its C$2.6-billion acquisition of the Canadian insurance businesses of AXA SA.
BHP Billiton on its US$40-billion offer to acquire Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Awards & Recognition

Blakes was named Regional Firm of the Year – Americas in the 2019 GCR Awards and Competition Law Firm of the Year in the 2018 Benchmark Canada Awards.

Members of our Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group are consistently ranked as leading practitioners in the most recent editions of the following publications:

The Legal 500 ranks Blakes in the top tier of Competition/Antitrust, noting: “The Blakes team is without a doubt one of the leading competition law practices in Canada. They have very impressive bench strength and depth of experience.”
Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Competition/Antitrust) ranks Blakes in Band 1, its top tier for Competition/Antitrust. Brian Facey, Cassandra Brown, Randal Hofley, Navin Joneja, Robert Kwinter, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood are recognized as leading lawyers.
Canadian Lawyer Magazine names Julie Soloway one of Canada’s Most Influential Lawyers 2020. Brian Facey was included in the 2017 list.
Global Competition Review’s GCR 100 ranks the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group in the “Elite” category, the review’s highest designation, noting that Blakes “continues to be at the top of Canadian competition law, and is considered ‘the firm to beat’ by several of its rivals.”
Global Competition Review’s Women in Antitrust ranks Julie Soloway as one of the world’s leading women lawyers in competition.
The Best Lawyers in Canada (Competition/Antitrust Law) named Brian Facey as Lawyer of the Year (2021) and recognizes Cassandra Brown, Navin Joneja, Robert Kwinter, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood.
The Legal 500 Canada (Competition/Antitrust) ranks Blakes in the top tier with clients referring to us as “market leader.”
Benchmark Canada: The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys recognizes Catherine Beagan-Flood, Réal Forest, Jeff Galway, Randall Hofley, Robert Kwinter, Claude Marseille, Dalton McGrath, James Sullivan and Robert Torralbo for their expertise in competition litigation.
Who’s Who Legal: Foreign Investment Review recognizes Brian Facey, Rob Kwinter and Julie Soloway as leading lawyers.
Who's Who Legal: Competition recognizes Brian Facey, Navin Joneja, Robert Kwinter, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood.
Who's Who Legal: Thought Leaders Global Elite - Competition recognizes Brian Facey a top competition lawyer in Canada.
Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders - Competition recognizes Brian Facey, Robert Kwinter and Julie Soloway were also recognized as Thought Leaders.
Who’s Who Legal: Canada (Competition) recognizes Brian Facey, Navin Joneja, Robert Kwinter, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood as leading lawyers.
Who's Who Legal: Competition - Future Leaders recognizes Cassandra Brown and Kevin MacDonald as the foremost practitioners in competition law.
The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada ranks Brian Facey and Robert Kwinter as leading lawyers.
The Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada ranks Brian Facey and Robert Kwinter as leading lawyers.
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory ranks Brian Facey, Navin Joneja, Robert Kwinter and Julie Soloway as leading lawyers.