Canadian watchdog's mediation in Rogers-Shaw deal to begin this month

(Reuters) - Canada's Competition Tribunal has scheduled in late October a mediation between Rogers Communications Inc, Shaw Communications Inc and the agency for the C$20 billion merger of the telecom firms. The mediation, which is expected to overcome the agency's anti-trust issues, will be a confidential process, the tribunal said in an Oct. 14 filing put out on Monday.

There will be no obligation on the parties to pursue the mediation process to a successful resolution, according to the tribunal rules on mediation. The move could pave the way for a settlement and avoid a protracted legal battle in the Competition Tribunal, which decides the fate of contested deals. In March, Canada's anti-trust authority had stalled the acquisition of Shaw by Rogers Communications on the grounds that the deal would reduce competition in the Canadian telecom market. Rogers-Shaw had agreed to sell Freedom mobile to Montreal-based Quebecor as a remedy for the merger. As part of the mediation process all the parties will work towards coming to an consent agreement that would list down the various remedies that Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor will have to present for the deal to clear.

(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal in Toronto and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)