See Chinese version below [中文版参阅下文].

Certain rules in the Provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Québec (the “related party rules”) impose additional requirements on some acquisitions of public companies where the acquirer is a significant shareholder or other insider. Such transactions are seen to potentially give rise to significant conflicts of interest or the risk of opportunism on the part of insiders. A common example occurs where a significant (greater than 10%) shareholder of a public company offers to purchase the securities held by the other shareholders (the so-called “minority” shareholders). The related party rules assume that the insider has better information about the target company than the minority shareholders, as well as the potential ability to influence the decision of the board of the target company to recommend or reject the transaction.

To protect minority shareholders in these circumstances, the related party rules require that an independent valuation of the target company securities be prepared under the supervision of a committee of independent directors. This valuation is then provided to the minority shareholders with the take-over bid circular or management information circular for the transaction so that they have an independent assessment of the value of the target company.

In certain cases, where a shareholder vote is required for a significant transaction between a public company and an insider, the related party rules require that, in addition to any vote otherwise required by corporate law (usually two-thirds of the votes cast at a meeting), it will also be necessary for the transaction to be approved by a majority of the minority shareholders.

There are a number of exemptions available from these rules, generally premised on some aspect of the proposed transaction providing assurance that the insider has been treated as an arm’s length party for the purposes of the transaction.

关联方交易

阿尔伯达省， 新不伦瑞克省，安大略省和魁北克省对上市公司的大股东或其他内幕人作为收购方的收购交易制定附加规则（简称“关联方规则”）。这类交易被视为可能引起利益冲突或内幕人的投机行为。一个典型的例子是上市公司的大股东（持有超过10%的股份）出价购买其他股东（所谓的“持少数股份的”小股东）所持有的股份。关联方规则假定内幕人比小股东掌握了更多关于目标公司的信息以及对目标公司董事会是否推荐或拒绝交易的决定更有影响力。

为了在这种情况下保护小股东，关联方规则要求在独立董事委员会的监督下，对目标公司证券进行独立评估。然后，此估值随交易的要约收购通告或管理委任通告一起提供给小股东，以便他们对目标公司的价值进行独立评估。

在某些情况下，如果上市公司与内部人之间进行重大交易需要股东投票，则关联方规则要求，除了公司法所要求的任何投票表决之外（通常是指在股东会议上所行使的表决权总数的三分之二的票数），该交易也必须获得多数小股东的批准。

这些规则有若干的例外，例外一般是基于所提议的交易的某些方面保证了内幕人士就交易而言被视为公平交易方。