RONA Asks Competition Tribunal to Rescind Consent Agreement
In an application filed with the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) on January 10, 2005, RONA Inc. (RONA) has asked the Tribunal to rescind a Consent Agreement filed with the Tribunal on September 3, 2003. The Consent Agreement resolved concerns raised by the Commissioner of Competition (the Commissioner) that RONA's acquisition of Réno Dépôt and The Building Box "big-box" home improvement stores from Kingfisher plc (Kingfisher) would substantially lessen competition in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In order to resolve these concerns, RONA agreed to divest to an independent third party the Réno Dépôt store in Sherbrooke.
The Consent Agreement provided that RONA would have a finite period of time to divest the store, failing which the divestiture would be placed in the hands of a trustee. RONA having been unable to sell the store, a divestiture trustee was appointed. Although at first unsuccessful in finding a buyer, the trustee eventually entered into an agreement with a prospective buyer. RONA, however, exercised certain rights under the Consent Agreement to object to the sale negotiated by the trustee, thereby requiring that the divestiture be approved by the Tribunal. RONA also applied to the Tribunal for rescission of the Consent Agreement, which if successful would free it of the obligation to divest the Sherbrooke store.
RONA's application was made pursuant to s. 106, which allows for rescission of a consent agreement in certain circumstances, including where "the circumstances that led to the making of the agreement . have changed and, in the circumstances that exist at the time the application is made, the agreement . would not have been made or would have been ineffective in achieving its intended purpose." In RONA's submission, substantial evidence that Home Depot intends to open a big-box home improvement store in Sherbrooke constitutes such a material change of circumstances. Sherbrooke, RONA argues, was unique among the geographic markets examined by the Competition Bureau in its 2003 examination of the RONA-Kingfisher transaction, insofar as it was the only market where Home Depot was not present as a competitor. Had it been present, RONA submits that Sherbrooke would have been indistinguishable from other geographic markets, in which case it would not have agreed to divest the RONA store in that market.
As the filing was made without the consent of the Commissioner, it seems likely that the Commissioner will oppose RONA's application.
Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as counsel to Kingfisher in RONA's original 2003 acquisition of the Réno Dépôt and The Building Box stores.
