By Adriano Marchese


Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. said Friday that they plan to close their transactions as quickly as possible after the key transfer of Freedom Mobile Inc. spectrum licenses to Quebecor was approved by Ottawa.

The Canadian telecom companies, as well as the Shaw Family Living Trust, said that they have agreed to push back their outside date for the acquisition of Freedom Mobile by Videotron Ltd., Quebecor's subsidiary, to April 7, and added that they plan to close their transactions by that date.

An outside date is an agreed-upon date after which any of the parties can terminate the agreement without penalty if a closure hasn't yet taken place. This date has been pushed back before as the companies waited for the proper regulatory approvals to complete their deals.

On Friday, the final approval came through. The Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry approved the 2.85 billion-Canadian-dollar (US$2.11 billion) deal that would see the transfer of Shaw's wireless spectrum licences to Videotron.

This was the final regulatory approval required to allow the Freedom Mobile transaction and the C$20 billion Rogers-Shaw merger to go through.

Rogers shares were up 1.3% on the news today, reaching C$65.39, while Shaw's shares rose 3.3%, to C$40.44. Quebecor shares were also higher, rising 3%, to C$33.44.

The approval today paves the way for the creation of a fourth national telecom provider.


Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-31-23 1006ET