Canada Puts Its Big Miners Off Limits Just as M&A Is Heating Up
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Workers walk between cooling ingots at a copper smelting complex in Sudbury, Ontario.
Photographer: Cole Burston/BloombergCanada is making it harder for foreign firms to acquire its biggest mining companies, potentially taking some of the global industry’s attractive takeover targets off the table.
The Canadian government will only approve foreign takeovers of large Canadian mining companies involved in critical minerals production “in the most exceptional of circumstances,” according to the latest guidelines from Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. The directive issued on Thursday is part of a sweeping effort by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to protect Canada’s critical minerals sector and national security interests.