WEEKLY ROUNDUP Canada’s Aecon Decision — a Further Blow for SNC in China?

摘要

Tensions between Ottawa and Beijing intensified with Ottawa’s decision this week to block the proposed $1.2 billion purchase of Toronto-listed Aecon by China Communications Construction International (CCCI) on national security grounds. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been generally supportive of Chinese investment in Canada, but there were signs of trouble with the Aecon deal when the government announced in February it was launching a national security review of the proposed acquisition (NIW Feb.16’18). “Based on their findings, in order to protect national security, we ordered CCCI not to implement the proposed investment,” Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Wednesday. The news is a blow to SNCLavalin’s hopes for securing a joint-venture arrangement with China National Nuclear Corp. this year to build Advanced Fuel Candu Reactors. In December the two sides were on the verge of signing a deal to establish a jointly-owned company, but that was abruptly canceled after Trudeau appeared to criticize China’s human rights and free speech records during a trade mission to Beijing (NIW Mar.2’18). During a February interview with Nuclear Intelligence Weekly, SNC’s nuclear division president Sandy Taylor said, “I wouldn’t say our deal is dependent” on the Aecon acquisition review, “but I don’t see how a negative outcome improves how we do trade.”