Mergers & Acquisitions

In this episode of Cleary Gottlieb’s Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy is joined by a panel featuring Jackie Holland, Cleary partner and former Senior Director of the UK Office of Fair Trading; Ricardo Zimbrón, former Director of Mergers at the Competition & Markets Authority and currently a partner at Cleary; Alexander Baker, CEO, Fingleton; and John Gray, Partner, FGS Global, to discuss the implications of the new Labour Government for competition enforcement and practice in the UK. Their conversation covers an array of topics, including the new government’s growth agenda, the role of politics in antitrust enforcement, merger control, consumer protection, digital regulation, and much more.

On September 13, 2024, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) approved the acquisition of Kindred Group (“Kindred”) by La Française des Jeux (“FDJ”, the “Transaction”) in the gambling sector, subject to behavioural commitments, including brand separation, to address conglomerate concerns.[1]

On September 3, 2024, in a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice – the EU’s highest court – ruled in favor of Illumina in its challenge to the EC’s unprecedented assertion of jurisdiction over a transaction that met no notification thresholds at either EU or Member State level.

On August 19, 2024, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) unconditionally cleared Bouygues Telecom’s acquisition of sole control of La Poste Telecom (together “the Parties”) through the acquisition of La Poste Group’s 51% stake. SFR owned the remaining 49% of La Poste Telecom and had a right of first refusal on La Poste Group’s shares that were for sale, as well as a right of approval over the buyer of those shares.[1] The acquisition was completed on November 15, 2024.[2]

On June 17, 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) unconditionally cleared the acquisition of Olink Holding AB (publ) (“Olink”) by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (“Thermo Fisher”) following the FCO’s first in-depth investigation of a case caught by the transaction value threshold.[1]

On 27 May 2024, the German Federal Cartel Office (“FCO”) gave the green light for Johnson & Johnson’s (“J&J”) 13.1 billion US dollar acquisition of Shockwave Medical (“Shockwave”).[1]  The decision follows an in-depth investigation into the acquisition’s potential impact on competition and innovation, particularly in the burgeoning field of cardiovascular disease treatment, one of the fastest‑growing global med-tech markets.