Be aware of regulatory timelines when arranging mergers: Lang Michener LLP

When planning the acquisition of a Canadian insurance company or its assets, “care must be taken to ensure that transaction timelines permit various regulatory reviews to be completed in a timely manner,” Lang Michener says in a paper prepared for the International Law Office.
The Lang Michener paper, Insurance Company Mergers: A Regulatory Guide, opens by noticing that the Canadian market has shown signs of becoming more consolidated. “Given the current pressures on the financial marketplace, this trend may be expected to continue,” the paper says.
Lang Michener goes on to list the various federal and provincial laws that govern insurance company mergers, noting that the federal Insurance Companies Act deals extensively with mergers. 
The Investment Canada Act requires that the federal government be notified of acquisitions of Canadian businesses, including insurance companies, when the assets of the business exceed Cdn$5 million in value and the acquiring company is foreign-controlled.
In addition to the notification requirement above, advance approval must be obtained for larger transactions, in which the asset threshold is set at Cdn$312 million (the amount varies from year to year). “For insurance companies, this threshold is relatively easy to succeed,” Lang Michener notes.  
In addition to the approvals noted above, the merger is subject to review under the Competition Act, which is the jurisdiction of the Competition Bureau.
The full paper can be found online at:
http://www.internationallawoffice.com/Newsletters/Detail.aspx?g=f7027488-01dc-4bc0-b0cc-fd8a0f403c9c