The 2020 updates to the merger thresholds under Canada's
Competition Act and Investment Canada Act have
been announced. Most notably, and for the first time since the
current system was adopted, the Competition Act's
size-of target threshold remains unchanged, at
C$96 million.
Competition Act
The Competition Act requires advance notification of
certain merger transactions involving operating businesses in
Canada where "size-of-parties" and
"size-of-target" financial tests both are exceeded:
- The "size-of-target" test
requires that the value of assets in Canada to be acquired, or
owned by the corporation the shares of which are being acquired, or
the annual gross revenue from sales in or from Canada generated by
those Canadian assets, exceeds a specified threshold. The
Competition Bureau has announced that the
"size-of-target" threshold will remain at
C$96 million for 2020, which was the same threshold as
2019.
