The authors discuss the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to approve a plan of arrangement privatizing BCE Inc. over the objections of bondholders. Summarizing the arguments for shareholder primacy and debenture covenants delimiting contractual rights against boards and management, they argue that an expanded conception of relational contract theory is useful in analyzing the competing claims in the BCE deal and litigation. This approach requires that broader contextual factors are necessary to consider in the functioning of the corporation, especially by after-the-fact decision-makers
