On August 17, 2020, the Commission conditionally approved Mastercard’s acquisition of Nets’ payment application division, following a Phase I review (“the Transaction”).[1] The Commission reviewed the Transaction following a referral by the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, and ultimately identified competitive concerns in an EEA-wide market for account-to-account core infrastructure services (“A2A CIS”) in relation to managed solutions that required the transfer of the overlapping business to secure Phase I approval.
The Commission Conditionally Approves Alstom’s Acquisition of Bombardier’s Rail Division
On July 31, 2020, the Commission conditionally approved Alstom’s acquisition of Bombardier’s rail transport division, following a Phase I investigation.[1] The Alstom/Bombardier merger is one of the first complex deals to be cleared during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The French Competition Authority Publishes New Guidelines on Merger Control
On July 23, 2020, the FCA published its new guidelines on merger control[1] (the “Guidelines”), which came into effect on the same day and therefore replaced the previous guidelines issued in 2013.
FCO Approves Acquisition of Lovoo by Parship and Elite Partner
On July 6, 2020, the FCO approved the acquisition of online dating platform provider The Meet Group Inc. (USA), active on the German market through its mobile dating app Lovoo GmbH (“Lovoo”), by the ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE (“ProSiebenSat.1”) group, which owns online dating platforms from Parship and Elite Partner.[1]
Council of State Quashes TAR Lazio Judgment That Overturned the ICA Decision Imposing Commitments on Sky After the Withdrawal of Its Notification of the Acquisition of R2
In a judgment issued in a simplified form on June 4, 2020,[1] the Council of State quashed the TAR Lazio judgment that had overturned the ICA decision of May 20, 2019, concerning the acquisition of sole control of R2 S.r.l. (“R2”) by Sky Italia S.r.l. (“Sky”).[2] The judgment was given on the merits of the case although it was adopted within the interim phase of the proceedings, pursuant to Article 60 of the Italian Administrative Proceedings Code. The parties were not previously informed of the Council of State’s decision to provide its final judgment in this phase, based on a temporary rule introduced during the Covid-19 emergency that enables the court to omit any advanced notice of this decision.
JD Sports Fashion plc v Competition and Markets Authority
On 13 November 2020, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) partially upheld JD Sports’ appeal against the CMA’s decision to prohibit its completed acquisition of Footasylum requiring it to fully divest Footasylum.[1] The CMA found that the parties were close competitors in sports-inspired casual clothing and footwear in stores and online. The CMA concluded there was no evidence that the impact of COVID-19 would remove its competition concerns.
Sabre Corporation v Competition and Markets Authority
On 21 May 2021, the CAT dismissed Sabre’s challenge of the CMA’s decision to block its proposed acquisition of Farelogix.
The Commission Waives Merger Commitments in Takeda/Shire and Nidec/Whirlpool
The Commission’s Notice on remedies states that waivers “will very rarely be relevant for divestiture commitments” and since divestiture commitments are required to be implemented in a short time after the decision, it is “very unlikely” that sufficient changes in market circumstances will have occurred for the Commission to accept any modifications of the commitments.[1] In May 2020, the Commission waived commitments given to secure merger control approval in two cases.
The French Competition Authority (“FCA”) Accepts Fix-it-First Remedy and Unprecedented Behavioral Commitments in a Major Overseas Retail Deal
On May 26, 2020, the FCA conditionally approved Bernard Hayot Group’s €219 million acquisition of the Vindémia Group—one of the largest deals in French overseas territories ever reviewed by the FCA.[1] Further to an on-site investigation, the FCA cleared the transaction in Phase I, subject to a fix-it-first remedy and behavioral commitments.