Mergers and Acquisitions
(Conference Board)

January 30 & 31, 2008

The 2008 Mergers and Acquisitions Conference was held on January 30 & 31, 2008 at the Marriott Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by the Conference Board of Canada. According to the Board's web site, it is not a government department nor agency, it is a not-for-profit Canadian organization, is objective and non-partisan and does not lobby for specific interests. Further the Board is funded exclusively through the fees it charges for services to the private and public sectors and also claims to be experts not only in running conferences but also at conducting, publishing and disseminating research, helping people network, developing individual leadership skills and building organizational capacity. The Board is funded by the larger private and public sector organizations.

Canada has been in the midst of an international mergers & acquisition boom; however, the sub-prime meltdown in the U.S. and the threat of a U.S. recession has put stress on deals made. Hence, this conference concentrated on economic forcasts and methods of dealing with tightening markets. There are fears among many Canadians that there is a hallowing out of Corporate Canada. TorontoArtsandEvents shares the view that when head offices leaves Canada, the decision making ability leaves Canada and this is not good for our future. The major problem faced by Canadian companies facing a hostile takeover bid, is that Canadian law gives a very short time frame in which to seek out alternative bidders or to prevent the hostile takeover even when it may be in the company's best interest. The OSC has been quick to terminate shareholder rights plans which deprives corporate boards of finding alternatives to the corporate raider. One method of dealing with this situation was the one used by Fairmont - hold discussions with carefully selected companies, hoping to land one as a strategic partner and failing that to hold a full-blown auction. As Fairmont only had 45 days to find a white knight, it used Intralinks software to allow interested parties to facilitate the viewing of large amount confidential information by select parties to all for the auction which ultimately led to a better bid for shareholders.

Dominic D'Alessandro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Financial Corporation in the closing session of the 2007 Mergers & Acquisition conference, compared Canadians to boy scouts who trust foreigners to take over our corporations and assets instead of protecting crucial industries such as mining and in particular the case of Inco and Falconbridge. He felt that corporate head offices do matter.

In view of the foregoing, recommendations to Canadian governments include the following:
1. The shareholder rights should be strengthened to allow Corporate Boards more time
2. Consideration should be given to protecting certain sectors
3. Consideration should be given for a review of the take over of corporation by countries that would not allow a Canadian company to take over its corporation.

For more information on Mergers & Acquisitions, visit the Board's web site by clicking on this page and be sure to check back here for information on the 2008 Conference!

Mergers and Acquisitions (Conference Board)

January 30 & 31, 2008

Mergers and Acquisitions
(Conference Board)