The agreement includes the option to acquire Shaw’s advanced wireless service spectrum licences in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario.
As part of the transaction Shaw will acquire Rogers’ 33.3% stake in TV channel TVtropolis General Partnership for $59 million.
“The sale is strategic for both parties and Shaw will be able to use the net proceeds from the transactions to accelerate various strategic capital investments in its core business as well as for general corporate purposes. The majority of the proceeds will be reinvested back into our business and will be focussed on improving and strengthening our network advantage,” said Brad Shaw, CEO of Shaw.
Shaw will use the funds to speed up the construction of its Calgary data centre, and to invest in further digitisation of its network, additional bandwidth upgrades, expansion of its Wifi network in western Canada and additional product development.
TD Securities acted as financial advisor to Shaw and David Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP provided legal advice to the company.