– The government has issued policies with respect to the application of the NBR criteria to some specific sectors, including critical minerals, book publishing, films and video games. It has also issued guidelines relating to NBRs involving certain categories of investors. SOEs have been a particular focus of such NBR guidance. – Pursuant to the Russia Policy, only on an exceptional basis would the Minister find an acquisition of control of a Canadian business by a direct or indirect Russian investor to be of net benefit to Canada.
CANADIAN OIL SANDS AND CRITICAL MINERALS – SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
– NBR policies provide that investments by foreign SOEs to acquire control of a Canadian oil sands business (2012) or important Canadian mining companies with core assets in the critical minerals sector (2022) will be found to be of net benefit on an exceptional basis only. The oil sands policy noted more broadly that the Minister will carefully monitor SOE transactions throughout the Canadian economy. The oil sands policy was prompted by the US$15.1 billion acquisition of Nexen by China’s CNOOC. More recently, however, the government has undertaken initiatives to increase investment from China generally and specifically indicated that the government is open to more investment by China in the oil sands sector. Other Foreign Ownership Restrictions – In addition to the generally applicable provisions in the ICA, there are also other specific statutes which impose restrictions on foreign ownership applicable to certain industries, such as transportation, telecommunications, broadcasting, financial services, newspapers, magazines and periodicals.
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Canadian Mergers & Acquisitions
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