Emmanuel Pressman
Oct 4, 2016
Legal Post editor Drew Hasselback recently moderated a round table discussion about hot topics in mergers & acquisitions that featured six noted legal practitioners, including Osler partner Manny Pressman. The transcript from the dialogue reveals that the biggest issue facing takeover deals is no longer selling the transaction to the target’s board and shareholders, it’s managing the increasing impact of regulations.
Commenting on the trends for 2016, Manny explains that the marketplace is “seeing interesting structures that are designed to pre-empt regulatory risks. For example, the Couche-Tard-CST transaction came with the backend conditional deal to sell Canadian assets to Parkland Fuel Corp. And Bell acquired MTS, but agreed to sell one-third of the postpaid wireless subscribers to Telus.”
When the discussion shifts to the importance of a board selling a deal to the community, Manny offers the following insight: “One of the greatest challenges is prevailing upon clients the necessity and imperative of having a comprehensive government relations, public relations and stakeholder strategy before you announce. It’s mission critical.”
Read the transcript from the round table discussion moderated by Drew Hasselback, “2016 Legal Post Round Table: Regulatory risk is the growing roadblock for Canadian takeover deals,” in the September 28, 2016 edition of the Financial Post.