Canadian securities regulators reduce regulatory burden related to business acquisition reports

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Aug 20, 2020

On August 20, 2020, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published amendments to the business acquisition report (BAR) requirements for reporting issuers that are not venture issuers.

The amendments aim to reduce regulatory burden and address certain concerns expressed by stakeholders.

For reporting issuers that are not venture issuers, the amendments will change the criteria for determining whether a completed acquisition is significant, based on three tests set out in National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations (NI 51-102). The amendments:

  • require that at least two of the three existing significance tests in NI 51-102 are triggered (previously, only one test had to be triggered)
  • increase the significance threshold in those tests from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

The amendments are being adopted following an extensive consultation process, including comment letters and other stakeholder feedback, as well as consideration of historical data on past BAR filings and exemptive relief granted to assess the impact of the amendments.

Provided all necessary ministerial approvals are obtained, the amendments are effective on November 18, 2020.

Review the press release on the CSA's website and the amendments on the CSA members’ websites.

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