Beefed-up Takeover Laws Buried in Bill

"The federal government has proposed major changes to Canada's competition and foreign investment laws that will rewrite the way government interacts with business when it comes merger and acquisition activity and provide competition bureaucrats with more policing powers.

In the United States, mergers that meet a certain threshold must be reported. The government can then issue a second request and demand the participants provide unlimited information. James Mutchnik, a competition lawyer at Kirkland and Ellis in Chicago, describes the process as 'tell me about your business in 500 boxes or less and I won't read it. It's incredibly wasteful and overly broad.' "

This article appeared in its entirety in the February 7, 2009 edition of The Financial Post.