Canadian Securities Commissions Consider First Tactical Private Placement Under Canada's New Take-Over Bid Regime

Earlier today, the Ontario Securities Commission and the British Colombia Securities Commission released their decisions regarding Hecla Mining Co.’s claim that Dolly Varden Silver Corp. had planned to utilize a private placement as an inappropriate defensive tactic.

Since Canada's new harmonized take-over bid regime (New Bid Regime) came into effect earlier this year, there's been a lot of talk about whether tactical private placements will become the new poison pills. For more information on the New Bid Regime see our previous article, Canada's New Take-Over Bid Rules Seek to Level the Playing Field.

A "tactical private placement" occurs when a target company issues securities to a friendly party in response to an unsolicited take-over bid in order to make it more difficult and/or more expensive for the hostile bidder to complete a take-over of the target company. This outcome is particularly important to target companies under the New Bid Regime for two key