The French Ministry for Economy has blocked under FDI rules U.S.-based leading provider of fluid motion and control products and services Flowserve Corporation’s (“Flowserve”) USD 245 million proposed acquisition of Velan Inc (“Velan”), a Canada-based leading provider of industrial steel valves.[1]
On June 29, 2023, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) published its Opinion on competition in the cloud sector following a sector inquiry.[1] The Opinion examines various practices currently implemented or likely to be deployed in this sector which have the potential to restrict competition. The Opinion provides a blueprint for future investigations, setting out the theories of harm that the FCA may put forward in the context of abuse of dominance, abuse of economic dependency, anticompetitive agreements or merger control cases.