CRTC approves sale of BCE broadcasting assets
By Adnews Staff
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has approved the purchase of BCE's broadcasting assets by a group of buyers consisting of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Capital Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Partners. These assets include Bell ExpressVu, cable television operations in Quebec and a minority stake in CTVglobemedia. The approval is subject to certain conditions intended to limit the ownership of the three US-based private equity firms. Of BCE's 13 directors, six must be nominated by Canadian investors while five may be nominated by non-Canadian investors. In addition, the chairman of the board and the independent programming committee must be Canadian. Also, a second representative of the pension plan must be added to the executive committee, among other conditions. "The application under review proposed to privatize the country's largest communications company and included significant foreign interest," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC. "Consistent with previous decisions, we have imposed conditions to address our concerns relating to corporate governance. These conditions will ensure that control of BCE remains in Canadian hands once the transaction is completed."