Corporate governance - Vigil

The European Commission officially challenged the Spanish government on Thursday over its attempts to hinder Spanish bank BBVA's hostile bid for smaller rival Sabadell. A letter of formal notice, which opens an infringement procedure, was sent to Madrid after the government last month said BBVA would not be allowed to integrate its operations with Sabadell for at least three years as one of the conditions imposed on the more than 13 billion-euro ($15.05 billion) offer. The letter said that, in the Commission's view, provisions in Spanish banking and competition laws granting the government unrestricted powers to intervene in mergers and acquisitions "impinge on the exclusive competences of the European Central Bank and national supervisors under the EU banking regulations". The Commission's letter, which comes after a warning in May not to hinder the bid, also said that it considered Madrid's broad discretionary powers as unjustified restrictions on the freedom of capital movement.

Statistique Canada indique mercredi que l’écart de revenu entre les ménages les plus riches et les ménages les plus pauvres du pays a atteint un niveau record au premier trimestre de 2025. Selon les données de l’organisme fédéral, l’écart entre la part du revenu disponible (une fois les factures payées) des ménages parmi les 40 % les plus riches et celle des ménages parmi les 40 % les plus pauvres s’est établi à 49 points de pourcentage au cours des trois premiers mois de l’année. « Ce n’est pas surprenant compte tenu de l’incertitude économique que nous connaissons et des tensions sur le marché du travail. Le chômage augmente, et il augmente particulièrement chez les jeunes — les jeunes diplômés qui sortent de l’école ne trouvent pas leur premier emploi », affirme Katherine Scott, chercheuse spécialisée dans l’égalité des genres et les politiques publiques au Centre canadien de politiques alternatives.  

South Korea’s top court Thursday upheld the acquittal of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on financial criminal charges, ending years of legal disputes over the 2015 merger between Samsung affiliates that solidified his control over the company. In 2024, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Lee of charges like stock price manipulation and accounting fraud by ruling that prosecutors failed to sufficiently prove the merger was unlawfully conducted with an aim to strengthen Lee’s control over Samsung. The Seoul High Court upheld the district court’s ruling in February, and the Supreme Court dismissed prosecutors’ appeal of the high court’s decision Thursday. Its ruling is final and cannot be appealed. Samsung’s lawyers said in a statement that they “sincerely thank” the Supreme Court for “wisely” ruling on the case. They said the ruling confirmed the 2015 merger was legitimate.

The Competition Bureau says Schlumberger Ltd. has agreed to sell a subsidiary of ChampionX Corp. as part of its deal to buy the oilfield services company. The competition regulator says Schlumberger’s acquisition of ChampionX would likely result in a substantial reduction in competition in the supply of critical oilfield services and equipment in Canada. Its review found the deal would likely lead to reduced innovation and access to products used in drill bits for oil and gas wells and in the provision of directional drilling services and well completion services. Under its agreement with the regulator, Schlumberger has agreed to sell US Synthetic, a subsidiary of ChampionX and manufacturer of PCD cutters and bearings, and to license intellectual property relating to quartz transducers owned by Quartzdyne, another business of ChampionX.

Telus Corp. T-T has narrowed the list of buyers for a stake in its cellphone-tower network to three large domestic asset managers, including two major pension funds, in a transaction potentially worth $1.2-billion.Vancouver-based Telus is in second-round talks to sell a 49-per-cent interest in its 3,000-tower network, according to sources familiar with the process. Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and the infrastructure arm of Toronto-based Brookfield Corp. are among the final bidders, according to three sources, while British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (BCI) is also at the table, two of the sources said. The Globe and Mail is not naming any of the sources in this story because they are not permitted to speak publicly on the transaction. The talks are continuing and there’s no certainty a final deal will be reached.

Unionized Canada Post workers will get a chance to vote directly on the employer’s offers for a new collective agreement starting on Monday. The Canada Industrial Relations Board will run the vote between July 21 and Aug. 1. A simple majority vote will decide whether the proposal is accepted or rejected. Canada Post is at an impasse with the union representing roughly 55,000 postal service workers after 19 months of talks. Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu last month asked the board to step in and put the Crown corporation’s latest offer to a vote from workers themselves. Canada Post had asked Hajdu for the employee-directed vote, rejecting the minister’s push for arbitration, which the postal service dubbed a “lengthy” process.

An $8 billion trial by Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders kicked off on Wednesday over claims they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The trial started with a privacy expert for the plaintiffs, Neil Richards of Washington University Law School, who testified about Facebook's data policies. "Facebook's privacy disclosures were misleading," he told the court. Jeffrey Zients, White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden and a Meta director for two years starting in May 2018, is expected to take the stand later on Wednesday in the non-jury trial before Kathaleen McCormick, chief judge of the Delaware Chancery Court.

Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has built a sizeable stake in Global Payments as the payment processing group looks to win back investors after its $24.2bn acquisition of Worldpay caused shares to plunge to a 10-year low, said people familiar with the matter. The investment comes as the Atlanta-based payments group plots its future after buying Worldpay earlier this year in its biggest acquisition to date as it tries to expand its core business of processing payments for merchants. The three-way, cash-and-shares acquisition with private equity group GTCR and financial technology company Fidelity Information Services came as a surprise to investors. It jarred with pledges from Global Payments’ management including at its 2024 investor day to focus on divestments and returning cash to shareholders.

President Donald Trump's administration filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who have not left their posts despite Trump's attempt to fire them. In a complaint filed in federal court in Washington D.C., the U.S. Justice Department said Trump lawfully fired the three board members — Laura Ross, Diane Kaplan and Tom Rothman — and requested a court order ousting them. The lawsuit is the latest twist in a larger fight between the CPB, which spends more than $500 million annually on organizations like the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio, and the Trump administration.

Diageo CEO Debra Crew has stepped down after two years in the job, the world's biggest spirits maker said on Wednesday, with finance chief Nik Jhangiani taking over in the interim as the company strives to boost its performance and cut debt. Shares in the maker of Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness beer rose as much as 4.5% after the Financial Times first reported the news, before paring gains to trade 0.7% higher at 1309 GMT. Diageo said Crew, who struggled to win over investors after a bumpy start to her tenure, was leaving immediately by mutual agreement. It did not give further details but said it was maintaining its forecasts for fiscal 2025 and 2026.

McDonald’s Canada announces Annemarie Swijtink as its new CEO. Swijtink is currently the managing director of McDonald’s Netherlands and has held the position since June 2022. The current McDonald’s Canada CEO, Michèle Boudria, has been in the role since 2022 after becoming the first woman in the position. McDonald’s Canada says Boudria’s legacy as CEO includes fostering strong partnerships with franchisees. The company says Swijtink brings a deep understanding of the McDonald’s business into the role. The leadership transition will take effect on Sept. 1.

Universal Music Group unit Virgin Music Group’s US$775 million acquisition of Downtown Music faces a full-scale EU antitrust investigation on concerns about its impact on competition, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Virgin Music announced the deal last December, triggering criticism from a wide swathe of European independent labels. Virgin had until Tuesday to offer remedies to address regulatory worries during the deal’s review but did not provide them, according to an update on the European Commission website.

The European Union began proceedings against Spain over its intervention in banking mergers after the government blocked the legal combination of BBVA BBVA and Sabadell for at least three years. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Thursday in a formal notice that Spanish laws that give Madrid authority to intervene in banking acquisitions undermine the exclusive competences of the European Central Bank and national supervisors, and restrict the fundamental EU freedoms of establishment and capital movements. “We have received a communication from the European Commission regarding the initiation of an infringement procedure for an alleged misalignment of current Spanish regulations with European regulations,” a spokesperson for Spain’s economy ministry said, adding that these are laws that have been in force for years and have been applied on several occasions.

La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) a maintenant en main toutes les autorisations pour compléter l’acquisition de la société Innergex de Longueuil. Le producteur d’énergie renouvelable a confirmé que le projet d’acquisition annoncé au début de l’année avait obtenu toutes les autorisations réglementaires nécessaires. Si tout se déroule comme prévu, Innergex estime que la transaction sera conclue le 21 juillet prochain, ou près de cette date. On se souviendra que la Caisse avait annoncé son intention d’acquérir Innergex en février dernier pour un montant de 13,75$ par action et de 25$ pour les actions privilégiées, ce qui conférait une valeur de 10 milliards $ à l’entreprise de Longueuil en tenant compte de la dette.

An US$8 billion class action investors’ lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company leaders -- current and former -- began Wednesday, with claims stemming from the 2018 privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. Investors allege in their lawsuit that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users’ personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016. Shareholders say Facebook officials repeatedly and continually violated a 2012 consent order with the Federal Trade Commission under which Facebook agreed to stop collecting and sharing personal data on platform users and friends without their consent. Facebook later sold user data to commercial partners in direct violation of the consent order and removed disclosures from privacy settings that were required under consent order, the lawsuit alleges.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. has abandoned its roughly US$46-billion effort to take over 7-Eleven parent Seven & i Holdings Co., blasting its Japanese rival for failing to engage in meaningful talks toward a potential deal. Laval, Que.-based Couche-Tard’s move puts an end to its nearly year-long effort to pursue Seven & i, bringing finality to a situation that has dragged down the Canadian company’s stock price. The Japanese company had been frosty to the proposal from the start, raising further questions about whether Japanese corporations remain as closed to mergers and acquisitions deal-making as they have been historically. “There has been no sincere or constructive engagement from 7&i that would facilitate the advancement of any proposal, contrary to comments made by 7&i representatives” as recently as this month, Couche-Tard chair Alain Bouchard and chief executive Alex Miller said in a note to the Japanese company’s board released late Wednesday.

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi said on Thursday it would expand its salmon farming by acquiring additional businesses in Norway and Canada, as Japanese companies continue to grow in the food sector, with a focus on protein. Faced with volatile fossil fuel markets and in search of stable revenue streams, Mitsubishi and its rivals have been diversifying into the food business, where demand is set to grow alongside a rising world population. “In recent years, securing food resources has become a critical global challenge driven by population growth,” Mitsubishi said in a statement.The acquisition of three companies from Norwegian Grieg Seafood ASA was made via Cermaq Group, Mitsubishi’s salmon farming company with assets in Norway, Canada and Chile. It will boost salmon production to around 280,000 tons in the 2027 fiscal year, up from some 200,000 tons produced by Cermaq annually now. The acquisition price is NOK10.2-billion ($1.3-billion), Cermaq said in a separate statement.

Le gouvernement du Québec donne un solide coup de pouce financier à deux constructeurs locaux d’appareils de surveillance téléguidés. Québec accorde une subvention de 8,8 millions à deux entreprises québécoises qui produisent des drones et des hélicoptères téléguidés. Laflamme Aéro et Ara Robotique investiront cet argent pour perfectionner des systèmes d’intelligence artificielle à bord des appareils et leur permettre d’opérer en réseau. Ces drones améliorés sont destinés à surveiller la frontière, des mines, des infrastructures pétrolières ou la progression d’incendies de forêt. À terme, ils pourraient même remplacer certains hélicoptères utilisés par différents corps de police. Le ministère de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie rendra publique ce jeudi cette aide financière qui s’étale sur quatre ans. Il s’agit d’une « contribution financière non remboursable », indique le Ministère sur son site web.

La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec a le feu vert pour compléter l’acquisition du producteur d’énergie renouvelable Innergex. Innergex a annoncé, mercredi, qu’elle avait obtenu toutes les autorisations réglementaires nécessaires. La transaction devrait être conclue vers lundi. La Caisse avait annoncé son intention d’acquérir Innergex en février dernier pour un montant de 13,75 $ par action et de 25 $ pour les actions privilégiées, ce qui conférait une valeur de 10 milliards à l’entreprise de Longueuil en tenant compte de la dette. Le prix offert représentait une prime de 58 % par rapport au prix de fermeture de la veille de l’annonce. Il est toutefois loin du sommet historique de plus de 32 $ atteint par la société en 2021. La transaction survient à un moment où le secteur des énergies renouvelables a perdu en popularité, dans la foulée d’un ressac contre la prise en compte des facteurs environnementaux en investissement aux États-Unis.  

Canadian employers should be starting to feel pressure with pay transparency regulations are in effect in several provinces and continuing to be passed across the country. Yet, despite these regulations, many organizations are still holding their cards close to their chests about pay program communication. However, this might not be the best plan. Those companies that are tackling transparency head on are finding it takes significant time and effort to manage the transition. Communicating pay program information is not yet a prevalent practice in Canada, although certain key pay program elements, such as job level, are being communicated by a majority of Canadian employers, according to our 2025 Pay Transparency Survey

Scott Sheffield, the founder and former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, cannot directly challenge a Biden-era order barring him from ExxonMobil's board after its acquisition of Pioneer, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday, while adding it would revisit the order regardless. While the FTC's three Republican commissioners voted unanimously to deny Sheffield's bid on procedural grounds, the agency plans to consider his arguments under a rule that lets the commission reconsider prior decisions. FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson criticized the order last year, which barred Sheffield from Exxon's board over concerns he would coordinate with members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has agreed to cooperate with activist investor Elliott Investment Management and added a veteran tech executive to its board as part of efforts to boost shareholder value following its Juniper Networks acquisition. Robert Calderoni, chairman of chip tools maker KLA has joined HPE's board and will lead a new strategy committee formed under a cooperation agreement with Elliott that includes information-sharing, the company said on Wednesday. Elliott, which holds a stake of more than $1.5 billion in HPE, also has the right to appoint an employee to HPE's board under the agreement that lasts at least a year and prevents the hedge fund from launching proxy contests.

Statistique Canada indique mardi que moins de fabricants déclarent avoir été touchés par les droits de douane en mai qu’en avril. Selon l’agence, les ventes manufacturières totales ont diminué de 0,9 % pour s’établir à 68,7 milliards en mai, soit le niveau le plus bas depuis janvier 2022. Toutefois, l’agence précise que les répondants à son enquête ont mentionné que les droits de douane américains avaient eu un impact moindre sur le secteur manufacturier canadien en mai qu’en avril. Près de la moitié des fabricants ont signalé des répercussions tarifaires en mai, soit environ 10 points de pourcentage de moins que le mois précédent, lorsque la majeure partie des taxes commerciales américaines sont entrées en vigueur.

Nvidia notched a political win Monday with the Trump administration’s loosening of restrictions on its chip sales in China. But the artificial-intelligence chip giant isn’t done being a pawn in the big-power rivalry between the U.S. and China. The reprieve came as boiling trade tensions seem to have reduced to a simmer. The countries reached a trade truce in Geneva in May, and China followed up by easing supplies of much-needed rare-earth metals for U.S. automakers and manufacturers. Now the U.S. is giving China back some of its AI computing muscle by letting Nvidia ship its H20 chips there. The H20 is a chip Nvidia designed with downgraded performance to comply with U.S. export restrictions to China, so it can’t be sold in any other market.