CRTC happy with Telus foreign ownership status

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has denied a request to review the level of foreign ownership in Telus Corporation, as it is satisfied that the full-service telco is following compliance rules. Rival operator Globalive Wireless (Wind Mobile) had requested a public review of shareholding structure at Telus in the interests of clarity, but the CRTC said it is satisfied with Telus’ mechanisms to comply with the foreign ownership cap of 33.3% which applies to Canada’s largest telcos including Bell, Telus and Rogers. At the time of Wind’s request in June, Telus claimed a foreign shareholding level of 32.6% but more recently revealed that its non-domestic ownership had dropped to around 15%. This is assumed to be because US hedge fund Mason Capital has sold a large proportion of its stake. In June Mason reportedly hired Blackstone Group to seek a buyer for its near-19% voting stake in the Canadian telecoms group, and Telus said that its non-Canadian ownership had fallen to 15% on 16 November 2012, from 32.6% on 29 June.