(Reuters) – Canadian investment firm Globalive Capital Inc said on Thursday it has partnered with telecoms company Telus Corp to bid for Shaw Communications Inc’s wireless business, Freedom Mobile.
Globalive’s move comes after Canada’s antitrust agency planned to block telecom giant Rogers Communications Inc’s $16 billion deal to buy Calgary-based Shaw on the grounds it would reduce competition in the wireless industry.
“Telus and we believe that we are a strong remedy partner for Rogers to get the Shaw merger approved. We are also satisfying the government’s concerns of being the fourth carrier,” Globalive Chairman Anthony Lacavera told Reuters.
Rogers offered to buy Shaw for C$40.50 per share last year to create the country’s second-largest telecom company and take on rivals such as BCE Inc in a highly competitive market.
According to a report from The Globe and Mail from March, Globalive had offered to buy Freedom Mobile for C$3.75 billion ($2.94 billion) in cash.
Rogers reportedly had also asked Montreal-based telecommunications and media company Quebecor to bid for Shaw’s wireless business.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
