Activist investor Bill Ackman will join Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.’s chief Hunter Harrison on a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the company’s takeover attempt of Norfolk Southern Corp.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
CP could boost Norfolk Southern offer: analyst
Activist investor Bill Ackman will join Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.'s chief Hunter Harrison on a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the company's takeover attempt of Norfolk Southern Corp.
The inclusion of Mr. Ackman, a CP board member and – through hedge fund Pershing Square Capital – a 9-per-cent owner of CP, is believed to be a sign the company is not about to abandon the pursuit of Virginia-based Norfolk Southern. Story
STREET MOVES
Rothstein joins Vancouver boutique law firm
Retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Marshall Rothstein has joined well-known Vancouver boutique law firm Hunter Litigation Chambers.
The 23-lawyer firm said on Monday that Mr. Rothstein will focus on acting as an arbitrator in complex commercial and public law cases, but will also provide Hunter clients with legal advice and opinions. Story
INSIGHT
M&A outlook
A mellower proxy battlefield and heightened interest in wobbling companies both inside and outside Canada's oil patch are some of the key trends that Toronto law firm Torys LLP sees for 2016 in the world of mergers and acquisitions.
In a report being officially released on Tuesday, the Bay Street firm also says private equity firms are increasingly shopping for infrastructure projects, and that Canadian investors may continue to be tempted by the emerging practice of "special-purpose acquisition companies," or shell companies set up solely to acquire an unnamed target firm.
Over all, M&A around the world was up dramatically over the past year, with the total value of global deals at more than $3-trillion (U.S.). But, as the Torys LLP report points out, M&A in Canada plummeted from $160-billion (Canadian) worth of deals in 2014 to just $45-billion this year as of Nov. 1, mostly a result of weak prices for oil and other commodities. Story
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