On 10 July 2023, the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) dismissed an appeal by Canadian software company Dye & Durham’s (D&D) against a decision of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to reject a proposed “dual-track” remedy. The case arose out of the CMA’s investigation of D&D’s completed acquisition of TM Group (TMG), which resulted in the CMA requiring D&D to divest TMG to a suitable purchaser.
On July 4, 2023, the Commission conditionally approved, in Phase I, Advent’s acquisition of market research provider GfK through its subsidiary NielsenIQ, after Advent pulled and refiled the merger notification.[1] The approval is subject to the divestment of GfK’s global consumer panel services (“CPS”) business, excluding Russia.[2]
In the latest episode of Cleary Gottlieb’s Antitrust Review podcast, host Nick Levy interviews Sir Jonathan Faull.
Their conversation covers
On July 13, 2023, the Court of Justice delivered its much anticipated judgment in Commission v. CK Telecoms,[1] setting aside the General Court’s landmark judgment that annulled the Commission’s 2016 prohibition of the proposed 4-to-3 merger between Telefónica Europe Plc (“O2”) and Hutchinson 3G UK Investments Limited (“Three”), the second and fourth largest mobile network operators in the UK, that would have created a new market leader with a combined share above 40%.[2]
On July 12, 2023, the Commission approved Broadcom’s proposed €55 billion acquisition of VMware after a Phase II review ruling out most of its initial concerns.[1] The Commission’s decision is subject to technology access and interoperability remedies.
On June 9, 2023, following an in-depth investigation, the Commission approved Vivendi’s acquisition of Lagardère (the “Transaction”), subject to divestment conditions.[1]
The U.S. FTC and DOJ have proposed sweeping changes to the pre-merger process in the United States under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.[1]
The changes would not affect whether a transaction is subject to the reporting requirements. But for those transactions where an HSR filing is required, the changes would, in a word, be massive.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has identified “roll-up” acquisitions (the acquisition of several targets in the same sector) by financial investors, such as private equity firms, as an enforcement priority. In this post, we discuss the CMA’s enforcement focus, its recent decisional practice, and implications for merging parties. The main takeaways are:
On April 20, 2023, the Commission adopted the 2023 Merger Simplification Package (the “2023 Package”) designed to streamline its procedure under the EU Merger Regulation.[1] In particular, the 2023 Package (1) expands the types of concentration eligible for treatment under the simplified procedure, (2) streamlines the review of both simplified and non-simplified cases, and (3) simplifies the notification process.