First approval cleared for $5bn acquisition
National Bank of Canada secured the first of three needed approvals for its acquisition of Canadian Western Bank (CWB), receiving clearance from the country's antitrust regulator.
In a statement released on Thursday, National Bank confirmed that Canada's Competition Bureau approved the all-stock deal, initially valued at C$5 billion when announced in June. Canadian Western shareholders support the acquisition but still require approval from the country's banking regulator and the minister of finance.
“This positive news from the Competition Bureau is a major step forward in uniting National Bank and CWB,” Chris Fowler, chief executive officer of Edmonton-based Canadian Western, said in the statement.
The approval supports the recent remakes by National Bank CEO Laurent Ferreira, who suggested the deal could close early next year, ahead of the end-of-2025 estimate initially projected.
“Things are moving along very nicely, and discussions with the Competition Bureau make us feel that we’re moving a little faster than anticipated at the announcement,” Ferreira told Bloomberg News last week. Earlier this month, he had stated at a conference that National Bank is “working really hard toward an early 2025 close.”
The deal will add about C$42 billion of assets for National Bank, Canada’s sixth-largest bank. This will boost the total to more than C$480 billion. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which is National Bank's next biggest competitor, has more than C$1 trillion in assets.
