The UK government has issued the final version of its “strategic steer” to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), directing the authority to act in a way that prioritises growth and encourages investment in the...more
Sanctions for procedural merger control infringements in 2024 did not meet the lofty heights of previous years. But merging parties should not be complacent. The number of infringement decisions increased. The U.S. and China...more
The transaction notification regime under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is now over a year old. To date, intervention levels are low. But assessing whether a filing is required, and gathering the extensive...more
Regulatory intervention levels are rising. The concerns of antitrust authorities and foreign investment (FDI) regulators are evolving and can be unpredictable. Allocation of merger control execution risk in deal documents...more
3/5/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sellers
Speeding up review periods remained a priority for antitrust authorities outside the U.S. They did this through formal rule changes or adjustments in practice. But the increasing complexity of the issues raised by some deals,...more
Tech sector deals are seeing rising mortality rates. AI partnerships are moving up the authorities’ agenda for scrutiny and enforcement. Overall, however, antitrust intervention in 2024 once again focused on transport, energy...more
2/28/2025
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Competition ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
Antitrust authorities continue to make use of powers to scrutinize deals falling below merger control filing thresholds. Many that don’t have that ability, want it. The European Commission (EC) remains the frontrunner in...more
Antitrust authorities killed more deals in 2024, marking a third year of rising mortality levels. Where prohibition was on the cards, many dealmakers abandoned their transactions rather than staying the course. The U.S....more
Private equity acquisitions—notably roll-up strategies—continued to face antitrust scrutiny in 2024. As did serial acquisitions by non-PE acquirers. Headwinds were particularly strong in the U.S., but breezes from other...more
2/27/2025
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Regulatory Agenda
The number of deals cleared with conditions fell sharply in 2024. Many antitrust authorities remained skeptical of whether merger remedies can effectively address antitrust concerns, choosing instead to challenge and...more
Merger control and foreign investment hurdles contributed to a challenging 2024 for M&A. 2025 looks more promising, with pro-business agendas and regulatory easing in key jurisdictions expected to fuel a surge in dealmaking...more
Chief executive of the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sarah Cardell, has announced that the authority will launch a review of its approach to merger remedies in early 2025.
Most notably, this will include a...more
In May 2009, the European Commission (EC) fined Intel EUR1.06 billion for abusing its dominant position in the x86 microprocessor market (CPUs). The EC concluded that Intel had granted anticompetitive loyalty rebates to...more
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will introduce groundbreaking new rules to regulate digital markets in the U.K. It aims to boost competition by controlling the conduct of the largest digital firms,...more
6/3/2024
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
Merger Controls ,
Pending Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will result in a landmark overhaul of the U.K. consumer protection regime. It will dramatically increase the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA's) enforcement powers...more
6/3/2024
/ Competition ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
Penalties ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 will in the main start to take effect in stages later in 2024 and will bolster the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to enforce U.K. antitrust rules....more
6/3/2024
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Compliance ,
Digital Marketplace ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
EU ,
Investigations ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Remedies ,
Technology Sector ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its final Green Agreements Guidance on how UK antitrust rules apply to green cooperation agreements between competitors (UK Green Guidance).
The UK Green Guidance...more
10/19/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Climate Change ,
Competition ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Sustainability ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The European Commission (EC) and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have published new guidance on the assessment of cooperation between competitors. For the EU, this is contained in revised Guidelines on...more
9/13/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
EU ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
Information Sharing ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The European Commission (EC) has imposed a fine of around EUR432 million on genomics company Illumina for closing its acquisition of blood-based cancer test developer GRAIL before the conclusion of the EC’s merger control...more
7/19/2023
/ Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Life Sciences ,
Merger Controls ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
UK
On 1 June 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted revised Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations on research & development agreements (R&D BER) and specialisation agreements (Specialisation BER) (jointly referred to as...more
6/14/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
Cooperation Agreement ,
Data-Sharing ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Exemptions ,
Horizontal Agreements ,
National Security Agency (NSA) ,
Popular ,
Sustainability ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
The UK government has published a much-anticipated Bill which will make significant changes to the UK competition and consumer rules and bolster the powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Revised merger...more
The UK government has published a much-anticipated Bill to shake up the competition and consumer regime. Front and centre is a brand new UK digital markets regime. The new rules aim to boost competition in the digital sector...more
Antitrust authorities continued their aggressive campaign against procedural merger control infringements in 2022. A total of EUR113.8m fines were imposed in 70 decisions across the jurisdictions surveyed....more
We have collected and analysed data on merger control activity for 2022 from 26 jurisdictions. We give you the key trends and developments from the past year, focusing in particular on the EU, UK, U.S. and China.
...more
In a landmark ruling, the EU General Court (GC) has confirmed the European Commission (EC)’s decision to accept a referral request from several Member States for the assessment of gene-sequencing firm Illumina’s acquisition...more