Canada Competition Bureau expects to review Alcan takeover

Canada's Competition Bureau Monday said it expects to review a takeover bid for Alcan Inc. , but won't say if it's received any preliminary approach.

"Certainly we expect that we will be reviewing the transaction but beyond that at this point obviously it's premature to say anything more," Melanie Aitken, the senior deputy commissioner of competition, mergers," said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

As reported, Alcoa Inc. has launched a $26.9 billion hostile bid for Alcan.

Aitken would not comment when asked if the panel has received any preliminary overtures on the transaction.

"Any communication we have with parties are confidential," she said.

She said the panel tries to work as fast as possible to deliver its rulings.

"In all cases, we're very sensitive to parties' desire to know what our position is as early as possible so we work as expeditiously as we can," Aitken said.

She could not estimate how long it will take to rule on the Alcan takeover because the panel doesn't yet have information on the transaction.

But at the "complex and very complex level of transaction, it's typically something that we get done in under four months," she said.

A panel official later clarified that the timeline is the five-year average for transactions that are deemed to be "very complex." The average for cases grouped together as "complex" and "very complex" is eight weeks, she said.

The competition panel reviews merger proposals to see if a transaction would substantially reduce or prevent competition.

Its most recent challenge of a merger was in 2005 when Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP.T) and James Richardson International proposed a joint venture to operate grain handling terminals at the Port of Vancouver, Pamela Wong, a communication adviser at the Competition Bureau, told Dow Jones.

That case is now before the courts.

Wong said the panel usually tries to resolve any competitive issues with the companies concerned. The companies may, for instance, sell some assets to ensure the deal gets the green light from the panel.

"In certain cases - it's a very small percentage of cases - it will be brought before the court," Wong said.