Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Canada Competition Bureau will not block TVA Group’s acquisition of Transcontinental’s magazine portfolio, (Mar 3, 2015)

By Dan Selcke, J.D.

Canada’s Competition Bureau has released a No Action Letter with respect to the proposed acquisition by TVA Group of Transcontinental’s consumer magazine portfolio, according to a Bureau announcement. This confirms that the Bureau has reviewed the transaction and will not challenge it before the Competition Tribunal under the merger provisions of the Competition Act.

A subsidiary of Québecor Media Inc., TVA Group is an integrated communications company. In addition to its magazine holdings, it is also a major French-language television broadcaster in Quebec. Under the Transcontinental deal, TVA Group will acquire several magazine brands, including Coup de pouce, Elle Québec, Décormag, Le Bel Âge, Véro Magazine, Canadian Living, Style at Home, Elle Canada, Good Times, and The Hockey News.

In coming to its decision to release a No Action Letter, the Competition Bureau concluded that the transaction was unlikely to result in a lessoning of competition, in part because there were still plenty of remaining competitors in all overlapping genres of magazines. Advertisers, the Bureau reasoned, would still have options as to how they wanted to reach different demographics. The Bureau also considered the general decline in magazine readership attributable to the Internet.

This is the second time in the past few months that the Bureau has issued a No Action Letter with respect to one of TVA Group’s acquisitions. In December of last year, it approved the company’s $118 million acquisition of Vision Globale, which operated film and television studios.

Companies: TVA Group, Transcontinental

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust