In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic with declining demand
and excess capacity in many sectors, companies will want to take
advantage of opportunities to increase operational efficiencies,
including through mergers and acquisitions. Where such mergers are
efficiency motivated, there may be increased scope for merging
parties to use the efficiencies defence in Canada – something
that was successfully done by Canadian National Railway Company
late last year in connection with its acquisition of H&R
Transport Limited (the
"Transaction").
Competition Bureau Review
Following its review of the Transaction, the Competition Bureau
concluded that the Transaction would likely result in a substantial
lessening of competition for full truckload refrigerated intermodal
services in eight relevant markets in Canada. In particular, the
Bureau found that CN would be able to charge higher prices and
provide lower quality service to customers in those markets.
However, as
