Disgruntled investors claim Canwest TV was unfair

The proposed $2-billion sale of Canwest Global Communications Inc. to Shaw Communications Inc. was not the result of a “full and informed auction,” and failed to fetch hundreds of millions of dollars in additional value the company is estimated to be worth, according to documents filed in an Ontario court. In an affidavit filed in Ontario Superior Court this week, James Kofman, an independent financial advisor specializing in mergers and acquisitions, says the solicitation process conducted by RBC Capital Markets last fall contained a “material omission” because it didn’t “expressly state that control and indeed 100% of Canwest would be available to interested parties. The filings were made in support of a legal challenge by an ad hoc group of disgruntled Canwest Global shareholders. The shareholders are asking the court to reject Shaw’s proposed $2-billion acquisition and force a 30-day open auction for all of the company’s television assets. The group includes the founding Asper family. They intend to challenge Shaw’s takeover at a hearing scheduled for June 22.