Yesterday morning, the Canadian Securities Administrators (the CSA) published the long-awaited amendments to Canada’s take-over bid regime (the Amendments) under Multilateral Instrument 62-104 – Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids. We believe that these Amendments may result in

Trevor Zeyl
Shareholder activism on the rise
According to recent studies, the rate of successful shareholder activism is on the rise. While historically high when compared to the relative ownership percentage of those campaigning, new data from North America and Europe demonstrates a climbing success rate for…
Canada and France: Will legislative changes reduce hostile bids?
While the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) proposed changes to the hostile take-over bid regime have been discussed extensively in Canada, a series of similar legislative changes in France have received relatively little coverage. Although attained by different means, both changes…
The CCGG makes a push for enhanced proxy access
The Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) recently released its much anticipated policy paper on “proxy access”, a term which refers to shareholders’ conceptual right to nominate directors and have those nominees placed on management’s ballot. The CCGG takes the…
Proxy Advisory Guidance
On April 30, 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) adopted National Policy 25-201 Guidance for Proxy Advisory Firms (the Policy). The Policy provides non-prescriptive and non-exhaustive guidance on recommended practices and disclosure for proxy advisory firms. The…
CSA publishes proposed amendments to the Canadian take-over bid regime
On March 31, 2015, the Canadian Securities Administrators (the CSA) published proposed amendments to Canada’s take-over bid regime (the Proposed Amendments) under Multilateral Instrument 62-104 – Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids, other related instruments and the Ontario…
Decision-making and Institutional Investors: Prevalent Factors and Key Market Distinctions
According to the recently published Global Institutional Investors Insight survey, shareholder activism is on the rise. The survey, which canvassed over 500 institutional investor and sell-side research analysts from across North American, European and Asian markets, reports that more…
Corporate Governance 2014: Corporate Governance in Special Situations
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP and Lexpert will again be co-hosting two full-day seminar sessions entitled “Corporate Governance 2014: Corporate Governance in Special Situations” on December 4th (Toronto) and December 8th (Calgary). These seminars will include…
‘Wolf Packs’ and Other Recent Trends in Hedge Fund Activism
The recent increase in hedge fund activism is “hyperbolic” and should be carefully assessed, according to two notable scholars, John C. Coffee Jr. (corporate law; Columbia) and Darius Palia (corporate finance; Rutgers), who have just published on comprehensive study on…
CSA Drops Early Warning Report Proposals
The Canadian Securities Administrators (the CSA) provided an update today on its proposed amendments to the early warning system regime. Specifically, the CSA announced that it has determined that they will not proceed with: (a) the proposal to reduce…