DTH provider and telecoms operator Bell Canada Enterprises has postponed the closing date for its C$3.38bn (US$3.41bn) deal to acquire Astral Media to 16 December.
The move came in response to the decision by the Canadian Radio-television and…
DTH provider and telecoms operator Bell Canada Enterprises has postponed the closing date for its C$3.38bn (US$3.41bn) deal to acquire Astral Media to 16 December.
The move came in response to the decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to block Bell from acquiring the Quebecois media firm saying it was not in the best interests of Canadians.
Bell subsequently called on the government to override the CRTC’s decision by issuing “a policy direction to the CRTC that directs the regulator to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting”.
Both parties have the option to further postpone that date by thirty days to 15 January 2013, Astral said in a statement.
Bell initially agreed to purchase Astral Media back in March 2012. It subsequently secured financing for the transaction in July, agreeing to a C$2bn 3-year senior unsecured term loan and C$500m 3-year revolver with Bank of Montreal and CIBC.
The acquisition is part of Bell’s strategy over the past couple of years to aggressively bulk up its content offering through a series of acquisitions.
The company currently owns a range of broadcaster services, including a national broadcasting distributor. It is also the largest ISP, the second largest wireless service provider and the third largest television distributor in the country. The CRTC was reluctant to give the company any more size and scale.
