In his letter to Government[1] from February this year, the Chairman of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) proposed the introduction of a mandatory and suspensory notification regime in the UK for “larger mergers”. The adoption of this proposal would result in the creation of a hybrid regime in the UK, with the notification…
By 19 July 2018 the Bulgarian competition authority (“the Bulgarian NCA”/ “CPC”) had never blocked a transaction in a merger control procedure.[1] Since then, CPC has prohibited a total of 4 concentrations[2], including proposed acquisitions of the Bulgarian subsidiaries of CEZ A.S. (“CEZ BG group”) by various investors twice.[3] The last prohibition occurred on 24…
Mergers and acquisitions are effective tools for boosting innovation and commercial advancement. With the rising globalism in the circulation of goods and services, undertakings are forced to seek mutually beneficial collaborations to refrain from being outmaneuvered by the creative destruction that defines the way of doing business in the modern day. Vertical integrations that may…
Bulgarian administrative law sets the bar high for legal interest of third parties not being an addressee of an administrative act to appeal the latter. A notorious example for the lofty threshold is the case regarding the revocation of the license of Corporate Commercial Bank. The majority shareholder in the bank appealed the revocation of…
In its decision of June 24, 2019, the Federal Supreme Court affirms Ticketcorner Holding AG’s sole legitimacy to lodge a complaint against ComCo’s prohibition of the merger between its wholly-owned subsidiary Ticketcorner AG and Starticket AG. The Federal Supreme Court thereby clarifies that parties to a joint venture are not obliged to jointly appeal against…
Having the Competition Act passed in 2002 and Competition Commission of India (hereinafter ‘CCI’) only started to function from 2009, Indian Competition law has taken many turns over the course of time and the ‘Competition Law Review Committee’, constituted in 2018, aims to ensure that the Indian legislation is in sync with the changing business…
Canon, the Japanese imaging and optical products manufacturer, has been fined €28 million (US$ 31.8 million) for implementing its acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC), before it was approved by the Commission, which is in breach of EU merger control rules. The fine was announced by the European Commission on 27 June 2019. …
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADIAN MERGER REVIEW: NEW COMMISSIONER MEANS NEW ENFORCEMENT AGENDA Anita Banicevic, Charles Tingley, Mark Katz In March 2019, Matthew Boswell was appointed to head the Canadian Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) as the country’s newest Commissioner of Competition (“Commissioner”). In that capacity, Mr. Boswell is responsible for the enforcement and administration of Canada’s Competition Act (Act”), including…
325 days from first filing, the CCPC just recently cleared Live Nation’s acquisition of sole control of Irish concert promoter, MCD Productions, a merger of Ireland’s largest ticketing company and venue operator with the country’s biggest concert and event promoter. Days later, the CCPC announced clearance of a three-to-two merger among Irish providers of commercial…
Abstract In its recent decision V2018-22 the Norwegian Competition Authority (‘NCA’) approved – subject to remedies – the acquisition by Sector Alarm AS (“Sector”) of the small systems business of Nokas AS (“Nokas”) in the household alarm market and a non-controlling 49,99 % stake in Nokas. The decision marks the first ever intervention against minority…
