Sale of company to Cpec-linked firm blocked

TORONTO: The Canadian government has refused permission to a Chinese state-run overseas investment firm from taking control of a 140-year Canadian construction company on national security grounds.

The proposed takeover of Aecon Group Inc by CCCC International Holding Ltd has been mired in controversy.

“We listened to the advice of our national security agencies throughout the multi-step national security review process under the Investment Canada Act. Based on their findings, in order to protect national security, we ordered CCCI not to implement the proposed investment,” minister of innovation, science and economic development Navdeep Bains said.

Aecon has several landmarks construction projects to its credit, including Toronto’s iconic CN Tower and Vancouver’s Skytrain and work on the airports in Toronto and Montreal.

CCCCI is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company Ltd, which has the Chinese government as its majority owner. CCCC Ltd has been involved in several projects, including at Gwadar as part of the China-pakistan Economic Corridor, and in building artificial islands in the South China Sea.

The potential deal was worth $ 1.5 billion.

The sale of Aecon had attracted much criticism from former heads of Canadian intelligence and opposition parties. Others who opposed the sale included Anita Anand, the director of the Centre for the Legal Profession and Program on Ethics in Law and Business at the University of Toronto.

In an email to the Hindustan Times, she said: “The federal government has the ability under the Investment Canada Act to prevent the transaction if it reasonably believes that the transaction presents national security concerns. In this case, on the basis of the evidence, the federal government made the right decision.”