It is often said that one of the greatest things about watching an important character is people wondering when he is going to make his comeback. In 2019, thirteen days after the prohibition of Siemens’ proposed acquisition of Alstom was published by the European Commission, Germany and France issued a public Manifesto ‘for a European industrial…

Looking back on the year 2023, this note aims to give an update on the state of play in Chinese merger control. In particular, it looks at how merger control has evolved since China’s main antitrust statute – the Anti-Monopoly Law (“AML”) – was amended for the first time in summer 2022. I will look…

The Czech Competition Authority (CCA) recently announced that it prepared a proposal to update the Czech Competition Act (the “Act”). While at present the proposal is just a set of ideas, it indicates how Czech competition enforcement may evolve in the years to come. Crucially, the CCA suggests deploying a “new competition tool” that will…

On 9 November 2023, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that the European Commission (EC) was right to impose two separate fines on Altice for breaching standstill rules and failing to notify its acquisition of PT Portugal, but lowered the fine for failure to notify by €3.1 million. The European Union (EU) merger control…

Introduction The debate about expanding competition law goals is a hot topic in the global competition policy agenda. The return of the antitrust debate in public opinion, due to the rise of Big Techs, opened the path to new proposals regarding sustainability, democracy, innovation, and inequality as competition goals or objectives. This new agenda has…

On October 12, 2023, the European Commission (EC) ordered Illumina to unwind its already completed acquisition of the cancer test provider GRAIL Inc. This is the first time that the EC has ordered a reversal of an acquisition. This decision opens a new chapter in the ongoing Illumina/GRAIL saga, which has been unfolding for well…

Introduction On September 26th, the European Commission prohibited the acquisition of the online flight booking service eTraveli by Booking Holdings, the leading provider of online hotel bookings in the European Economic Area (EEA). The Commission argues that the acquisition would have strengthened Booking’s dominant position in the market for online hotel bookings by enabling it…

Effective 24 May 2023 the Moroccan legislator introduced new, increased merger control notification thresholds. While the increase in notification thresholds is welcome, the more relevant change is that the new turnover thresholds always require that the parties have turnover in Moroccan. While this change does not entirely resolve existing problems with a lack of local…

The Indian merger control framework is governed by the Competition Act, 2002 (Act) and The Competition Commission of India (Procedure in regard to the transaction of business relating to combinations) Regulations, 2011 (Combination Regulations). To re-align with evolving regulatory needs and streamline processes, Combination Regulations have been reformed periodically. Earlier this year, the Competition (Amendment)…

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation took effect on 12 July 2023 to much fanfare. We take a look at the top five things PE funds need to know when considering acquisitions with a European footprint. The Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) is the European Commission’s attempt to level the playing field for M&A deals by creating…