NEW YORK – During a recent trip to New York City, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told reporters there the Conservative government is considering allowing foreign companies buy incumbent telcos or build their own networks in Canada, according to a Bloomberg news report.
"It’s an option on the table,” Bernier told Bloomberg News on Friday. "I just want to be sure to know the impact of that if we’re opening the foreign investment in telecom,” he said in the story.
Current Canadian law limits foreign ownership in Canuck telcos like Bell Canada or Telus to a maximum of 46%.
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While the Minister says that, another report, from the Globe and Mail, says that private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts would like to purchase Bell Canada and take it private (there have been similar rumours about private equity’s interest in Telus, too).
The story speculates Bell’s purchase price would be $30 billion, which would the largest in Canadian corporate history.
However, as mentioned above, due to Canadian laws, a U.S. private equity firm could not buy Bell alone.
