The Canadian Bar Association held its annual competition law conference in Ottawa on 3-4 October 2013. On the first day of the conference, NERA Senior Vice President Dr. Graeme Hunter participated in a panel discussion on current issues in Canadian merger review.  With Competition Bureau reviews of Canadian Tire/Forzani, The Brick/Leon's, Sobeys/Safeway, and Loblaws/Shoppers Drug Mart completed or ongoing, retail mergers are once again a hot topic in Canada. Recent statements by the Competition Bureau on some of these transactions provide insight into the Bureau's analytical approach to the review of retail mergers and highlight the important role that econometric analysis can play in the assessment of a merger's likely competitive effects. Dr. Hunter and his co-panelists discussed these and other recent merger developments and their implications in advising clients on merger matters, including pre-merger risk assessment, negotiation, and review strategy.

NERA was a sponsor of The 2013 Annual Competition Law Fall Conference. Learn more via the Canadian Bar Association website.