CA - Rogers Shaw rise 3% as court rules in favor of merger

• Rogers Communications ( NYSE: RCI ) rose 3.1% and Shaw Communications ( NYSE: SJR ) jumped 3.1% in NYSE trading as a Canadian appeals court sided with the companies in their contentious merger.
• The court rejected an appeal from Canada's Competition Bureau seeking to block Rogers' C$20B acquisition bid for Shaw.
• The appeal came after Canada's Competition Tribunal said the combination could go forward, finding no competitive concerns.
• And the result comes in time for the two companies to close the deal. They had extended the outside date of their combination to Jan. 31, as well as a deal for Shaw to sell its Freedom Mobile arm to Vidéotron (QBR.B:CA).
• A three-judge panel at the appeals court issued its ruling after hearing only from lawyers from the Competition Bureau, saying they didn't need to hear from the companies.
• And it was "far from a close case," said Justice David Stratas, who cited hearing from dozens of witnesses and reviewing thousands of pages of evidence.

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