Richard Annan

Richard Annan is co-head of the competition, antitrust and foreign investment group and serves as counsel at Goodmans. Richard specialises in competition law, having served 22 years with the Canadian Competition Bureau. He was the major case director and strategic policy adviser of the mergers branch and most recently acted as assistant deputy commissioner of competition responsible for Division A of the mergers branch and the Mergers Notification Unit. Richard joined Goodmans in 2004. Richard has led the examination of many significant mergers in a wide range of industries under the Competition Act. In 1998, he led the examination of the proposed mergers between the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal and between the Toronto-Dominion Bank and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest and most complex merger examinations ever undertaken in Canada. In 1999, he led the examination of the merger between Air Canada and Canadian Airlines. Richard was the investigative team leader in the Gemini I and II cases that were resolved through Competition Tribunal proceedings. While acting assistant deputy commissioner, Richard was the responsible manager for a number of high-profile cases, including General Electric/Honeywell, British American Tobacco/Rothmans International, Coca-Cola/Cadbury Schweppes, General Electric/Instrumentarium, Great West Life/Canada Life, Rona/Réno-Dépôt, Canadian National/BC Rail and Manulife/John Hancock.Richard is recognised as a leading competition/antitrust lawyer by Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in Canada and Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers.