Merger control

Abuse of dominance, Advocate General, European Court of Justice, European Union, Merger control, Merger Thresholds, Mergers

, , , , , , (White & Case)/ /Leave a comment

Advocate General Juliane Kokott has proposed that the EU Court of Justice should find that competition authorities have the power to apply Article 102 TFEU to corporate transactions that are not reportable and test under that provision whether the transaction as such constitutes an abuse of a dominant position. However, a competition authority cannot in…

Merger control, Merger notification, Merger Thresholds, Mergers, Türkiye

, , (ACTECON)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction The substantial rules of the Turkish merger control are taken from the corresponding EU provisions. The amendments to the Turkish Competition Law in 2020 introduced the SIEC test to improve the concentration control regime and harmonize it with the EU rules even further. The amended Merger Communique in 2022 revised the thresholds as a…

Amazon, India, Merger control, Merger notification, Mergers, Minority shareholding, Misleading information

(National Law University)/ /Leave a comment

Background Amazon.com Inc. recently approached the Supreme Court against the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), where the Tribunal affirmed the ruling of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The impugned decision of the Tribunal upheld the penalty order against Amazon.com, on the basis of non-disclosure and suppression of material information in…

Gun jumping, Merger control, Merger notification, Merger Thresholds, Mergers, Portugal, Turnover allocation, Turnover thresholds

, (Morais Leitão)/ /Leave a comment

As in most jurisdictions, the Portuguese Competition Act (‘PCAct’) provides for an ex-ante merger control regime, according to which concentrations above certain thresholds are subject to mandatory pre-notification. Three alternative thresholds apply i) a turnover threshold, ii) a standard market share threshold and iii) a de minimis market share threshold (see Article 37 of the PCAct)….

Competition policy, Concentrations, Killer acquisitions, Merger control, Merger regulation

(European University Institute)/ /Leave a comment

According to Wikipedia, the term “filicide” refers to a deliberate act of a parent killing their own child. As awful as that sounds, in corporate life it is pretty common for undertakings to divest, diminish, or discontinue entire product lines, services, distribution chains, or complementary divisions of work. This is often done as a response…

European Commission, Merger control, Remedies, Standard of Proof

, , , , , (White & Case)/ /Leave a comment

On 18 May and 22 June 2022, the EU General Court upheld two European Commission prohibition decisions. Both judgments endorsed the European Commission’s assessment of the mergers at issue, recognising a broad margin of discretion in the European Commission’s evaluation of the concentrations’ effects and the remedies.   Key takeaways The EU General Court (“GC”)…

Dutch clause, European Commission, General Court of the European Union, Gun jumping, Killer acquisitions, Merger control

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

On September 6, 2022, the European Commission (Commission) announced that it had prohibited the acquisition by Illumina Inc., a U.S company supplying sequencing- and array-based solutions for genetic and genomic analysis, of Grail LLC, another U.S. company that develops blood tests for the early detection of cancers, under the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR).  Grail has…

Digital economy, Digital markets, Merger control, United Kingdom

(University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

On 18 January 2022, Microsoft announced its future acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which will be the largest tech merger in the history of the United States. The press release voiced concern on a range of competition authorities around the World. Microsoft is one of the three contenders in the market of console-making and by acquiring…

China, Merger control

(Hogan Lovells, China)/ /Leave a comment

Yesterday, on 29 August 2022, clearance for the FAW/Refire joint venture transaction was announced on one of the websites of the Chinese antitrust authority – i.e., the State Administration for Market Regulation (“SAMR”).  That transaction marks the first case where Chinese merger review was handled by a local SAMR office. The foundations to this delegation…

Abuse of dominance, Cartels, Commitments, Competition law, India, Leniency, Merger control, Settlement

(Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan)/ /Leave a comment

The Competition (Amendment) Bill (‘Bill’) was first published for public consultation in February 2020 and it is only on 5 August 2022 that it has finally been tabled before the Indian Parliament. The Bill is a concerted effort to harmonize competition law with the evolving realities of businesses today. The Bill proposes to amend both…