The Competition Bureau announced today that in 2020 the pre-merger notification threshold relating to transaction size will remain unchanged from the current threshold of $96 million set in 2019.
Under the Competition Act mergers of all sizes and in all sectors of the economy are subject to review by the Commissioner of Competition. The Competition Bureau must generally be given advance notice of proposed transactions when the target's assets in Canada or revenues from sales in or from Canada generated from those assets exceed $96 million, and when the combined Canadian assets or revenues of the parties and their respective affiliates in, from or into Canada exceed $400 million.
The Commissioner reviews these notifiable transactions to determine if they are likely to prevent or lessen competition substantially.
Quick facts
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As per subsection 110(8) of the Competition Act the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry reviews the threshold annually.
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The Minister may review the threshold using the indexing mechanism set out in the Act, by prescribing a different amount to be established by regulation, or may leave the threshold unchanged.
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When the threshold is not adjusted in a given year, it remains the same as the threshold in the previous year.
