Year in Review 2013: Biggest Canadian Business Deals of the Year

1. Loblaw lands Shoppers
And just when you thought you were done, its back out another trip to the grocers this time for a pack of smokes and prescriptions. In July, Shoppers got added to the cart when Loblaws picked them up for $12.4-billion in cash and stock. By combining the drug mart’s 1,242 stores with its 1,000+ outlets, the Weston-owned Loblaws will be sitting atop a $42-billion retail goliath. However, the merging will be minimal insisted executive chairman Galen Weston who said neither chain plans to close any stores. ‘Plans’ might be the operative word there, given that the same press release spoke of the $300-million annual cost-saving synergies to come.

2. Sobeys buys Safeway
Maritimers are used to moving west, and not coming back save for Christmas or maybe their kid sister’s wedding. But this year, the Sobeys of Stellarton, Nova Scotia, went out, got some groceries, some booze and filled up, and then straight back home. Sure the trip cost $5.8-billion, but look what they picked up: Safeway’s 213 Canadian stores, to add to the 1,300 they already had under the Sobeys, IGA and Foodland banners, as well as 200 pharmacies, 62 gas stations and 10 liquor stores.

3. First Quantum prevails in Panama
Some deals start on a soft note: the promise of synergies, share price premiums, and sweet, sweet cost savings. Others unfold on a more hostile note: We’re going to own you. Alas, such was the tack for Vancouver’s First Quantum when it sized up Inmet’s US$6.2-bllion Cobre Panama project, the largest copper mine operation in the world. For months, First Quantum maintained that its in-house engineering skills and copper mining experience in Zambia, and elsewhere, would serve to drive much greater returns for Inmet’s shareholders. Eventually, their argument won out, and Inmet and its vast untapped deposits of red metal were claimed. The C$5.1-bllion deal closed in April.

4. Rogers cleans up on the ice
Copper, lumber, natural gas, and major office towers, those things are important, but if you really want your billion-dollar deal to make you big-time in Canada, there better be some stick involved. Rogers proved the point in November, paying $5.2-billion for the broadcast and digital rights to the NHL for the next 12 years. For the CBC, the deal lands like an elbow to the head, knocking them out of their dominant position as the home of hockey in Canada, and immediately sparks great teeth-gnashing over the future of Don Cherry. (Well, turn out the lights, the party's over, to quote another famous Don.) The deal makes Rogers the country's most powerful media entity, giving them a valuable franchise to drive TV and digital subscriptions, and control how and where the vast majority of NHL games will be viewed. And while the agreement is being hailed as a win-win for all parties, with the NHL receiving almost triple the amount they received from the CBC, and Rogers moving solidly into top spot as a Canadian sports destination, it will likely prove far less of a wondrous deal for many hockey fans who can now expect to pay far more to see the Leafs lose.

5. KingSett and H&R Reit split Primaris
There’s a reason why lawyers love a good M&A. It’s because of deals like this one: In January, much wrangling over the assets of Primaris REIT – think strip malls and shopping centres, most of them out west – came to a close when KingSett Capital and H&R Reit agreed to divvy them up in a $5-billion ‘friendly’ deal. We’ll spare you the fine print, but suffice it to say that KingSett had originally wanted to swallow the REIT whole for $4.4-billion, before Primaris called their pals over at H&R to have their backs. The billable hours ticked happily away, until the two bigs ruined the party and agreed to carve Primaris up, with 18 malls handed to KingSett for $1.9-billion, and the other 25 going to H&R for $3.1-billion.

7. Bell finally gets Astral
It took a few kicks of the can, but in the end, BCE CEO George Cope succeeded in not antagonizing CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais long enough to scoop up Astral’s 84 radio stations and 25 TV channels for C$3.4-billion. Blais sent Cope packing earlier when his first offer was seen as accumulating too much media clout in one place, the deal giving Bell a 45 per cent share of English language TV viewers in Canada, and 35 per cent of French-language viewers. Suitably chastened, Cope agreed to dump 10 of the radio stations and 11 TV channels and spend nearly $250-million on original TV and radio programming.

9. HBC goes shopping at Saks
Who doesn’t like browsing the aisles at Saks? Indeed, Hudson Bay’s Bonnie Brooks liked the upscale retailer so much she bought the whole joint for US$2.9 billion in September, picking up 41 stores in the U.S., Mexico and the Middle East. The acquisition means Brook’s empire now stretches across three brands - HBC, Lord & Taylor, and of course, Saks - four continents and some 320 shopping centres. Next move for Brooks is to bring some of the Saks sizzle here, where seven outlets are set to open in 2014. Whether her recent shopping spree will result in any floor staff ever within sight to help customers remains unclear.