ONTARIO COURT SAYS NO TO CANWEST
By Adnews Staff
An Ontario court has turned down CanWest Global Communications Corp.'s request to have the pre-acquisition agreement between WIC Western International Communications and Shaw Communications invalidated. Under the agreement, Shaw has made an offer to purchase all Class B non-voting shares of Vancouver-based WIC for $43.50 per share, payable in cash and Class B non-voting participating shares of Shaw. WIC has agreed that if Shaw's bid does not succeed in certain circumtances, WIC will pay a $30 million fee to Shaw and Shaw will have the right to buy WIC's radio broadcasting business for $160 million. The Shaw offer expires at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday. CanWest of Winnipeg has put forward an offer to buy all Class A voting shares of WIC. That deal expires earlier tonight at 9 p.m. However, CanWest has said that its offer is invalid unless the deal between WIC and Shaw is terminated.