(December 22 – 08:55 ET) – C.I. Fund Management Inc. has confirmed that it will not extend its offer for Mackenzie Financial Corp., effectively killing its bid.

CI’s offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Mackenzie is set to expire at midnight on tonight. C.I. says it will not be extended because, “the necessary regulatory conditions to permit it to take up and pay for shares under the offer will not be fulfilled prior to the expiry of the bid.”

The decision ends C.I.’s attempt to acquire Mackenzie and create the nation’s biggest fund company. Mackenzie management has pledged to continue its “value maximization process” even if C.I. walks away from the bid. The pressure to come up with an alternative deal now shifts to them.

AIC founder Michael Lee-Chin has acknowledged that he is considering a bid that would put AIC and Mackenzie together in a new publicly-traded firm that would become the biggest fund company in Canada. However, so far there are no other deals on the table.
– IE Staff