Rogers keeps mum on post-ouster Natale consultation fee

Rogers Communications Inc. has declined to adjust its calculation of the value of the acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc. to include in its application to the CRTC the value of any consulting fee paid to ousted CEO Joe Natale, a week after the regulator asked it to do so in a hearing into the transaction. In undertakings filed with the CRTC Monday and posted to the commission's website Tuesday, Rogers wrote that the Tangible Benefits Policy "does not contemplate including the purchaser’s consulting contracts in the value of a transaction." "The commission has always been clear that its approach to determining the transaction value in changes of effective control is the total of all considerations passed between the buyer and seller. As such, a consultation agreement would only be included in the value of a transaction if it was entered into with the seller of the business," the company wrote. Last week during hearings, the legal counsel for the CRTC asked representatives of the company to include details of Natale's severance package, if the severance includes a consultant’s fee on the Shaw merger going forward. Edward Rogers replied that the details of Natale’s severance package are still being worked out. Senior vice-president of regulatory affairs Ted Woodhead pushed back and questioned the relevance of the information to which the commission reiterated that it was for additional information. Woodhead said the company "will take it as an undertaking under objection." Rogers, in its Monday filing, argued that in previous equivalent CRTC proceedings, it was only the value of consultation arrangements with the "vendor" of the business in a given transaction, in this case Shaw. In a partially redacted answer, Rogers wrote that because Natale is not the seller of Shaw, a consultation agreement with Rogers "would not be considered part of the value of the transaction." While Rogers declined to adjust its valuation of the transaction to include the value of any consultation contract with Natale, it is unclear if such an arrangement exists. In response to a different undertaking -- in which the commission asked the company to provide "the consulting agreement between Rogers and Mr. Natale, if any, with respect to the Shaw transaction" or to confirm there wasn't any agreement in place --, Rogers' answer in the Monday filing is completely redacted. -- Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Rogers keeps mum on post-ouster Natale consultation fee

News | November 30, 2021

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Rogers keeps mum on post-ouster Natale consultation fee

News | November 30, 2021

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