The Court of Justice of the EU (the Court) has overturned the General Court’s judgment in Illumina/Grail, effectively putting an end to the EC’s revised Article 22 policy approach for below-threshold mergers. Under this...more
9/6/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
EU ,
EU Merger Directive ,
EUMR ,
European Commission ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
Dealmakers are learning to navigate a stricter regulatory environment as UK and EU authorities take an increasingly interventionist stance
Global dealmaking experienced a slowdown in 2023 as the market battled headwinds on...more
6/24/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Borrowers ,
Capital Markets ,
Competition ,
EU ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Investors ,
Lenders ,
Mergers ,
Shareholders ,
UK
In yet another twist in the Illumina/Grail saga, Advocate General Emiliou has challenged the European Commission's approach to calling-in certain non-reportable transactions for review. The final judgment will be delivered by...more
The EC has published the long-awaited revised Market Definition Notice (the "Notice"), marking the first update since its initial adoption in 1997. The Notice clarifies the methodology for defining product and geographic...more
White & Case Global Antitrust Merger StatPak (WAMS)—the first real-time clearinghouse for global merger notification data—has analyzed merger notifications in reporting jurisdictions around the first half of calendar year...more
9/28/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Competition Authorities ,
EU ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
OECD ,
Popular ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
UK
The EU Court of Justice in the CK Telecoms1 ruling has addressed key questions of EU merger control, including the standard of proof for the European Commission to challenge a merger, the assessment of mergers below the...more
The European Commission ("EC") has published its final revised Horizontal Cooperation Guidelines and adopted new R&D and Specialisation Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs). The EC's aim is to provide more guidance for...more
The long-awaited European Court of Justice's judgment in Towercast confirmed that national competition authorities (and national courts) can apply abuse of dominance rules to mergers that did not trigger EU and national...more
On 19 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice, answering questions from the Italian Council of State, confirmed that the Intel effects-based approach applies also to exclusive dealing practices and held that competition...more
On 12 January 2023, the EU Court of Justice upheld the EU General Court’s judgment imposing a fine on Lithuanian Railways for dismantling a section of railway track. While reaffirming its essential facility case law...more
Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey See Significant Surge in Merger Filing Activity; US and EU Merger Filing Activity is Down Compared to 2021's Record Levels, But Still Above Historical Levels -
White & Case...more
12/20/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Australia ,
Biden Administration ,
Brazil ,
Competition ,
EU ,
EU Horizontal Safeguard Regulation (HSR) ,
European Commission ,
Investigations ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Russia ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Turkey ,
Ukraine
Advocate General Kokott has found that the General Court erred in law in requiring the European Commission to show anti-competitive effects of a merger with “strong probability” and that the scope of its judicial review was...more
10/28/2022
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
Investment ,
Judicial Review ,
Mergers ,
Standard of Proof ,
Telecommunications ,
UK
Advocate General Juliane Kokott has proposed that the EU Court of Justice should find that competition authorities have the power to apply Article 102 TFEU to corporate transactions that are not reportable, and test under...more
On 18 May and 22 June 2022, the EU General Court upheld two European Commission prohibition decisions. Both judgments endorsed the European Commission's assessment of the mergers at issue, recognising a broad margin of...more
9/19/2022
/ Appeals ,
Buyers ,
Competition ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Court of Justice (ECJ) ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Remedies ,
Standard of Proof ,
Standard of Review
...Key Highlights -
According to WAMS data, US merger control filing activity has cooled off: H1 2022 merger filing activity is down 23 percent versus H1 2021. However, US HSR filings in H1 2022 are 47 percent above the...more
7/19/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Austria ,
Brazil ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Merger Control Regulation ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Germany ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers
On 18 May 2022, the EU General Court (GC) upheld the European Commission's (EC) € 28 million fine imposed on Canon for gun-jumping in the context of a (somewhat unique) so-called warehousing structure. The judgment confirms...more
On 23 February 2022, the EU's General Court (GC) dismissed a €1.7 billion claim for damages brought by United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) against the European Commission (EC).1 UPS sought compensation for the losses resulting...more
3/3/2022
/ Break-Up Fee ,
Damages ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Infringement ,
Lost Profits ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Right of Defence ,
TNT ,
UPS
As part of its review of the EU antitrust rules governing vertical agreements, the European Commission (EC) has published for consultation a draft new section of its Vertical Guidelines, which contains proposed guidance on...more
2/16/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Distributors ,
Draft Guidance ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Exemptions ,
Proposed Rules ,
Safe Harbors ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER)
A recent speech1 by the European Commission's (the Commission) Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager (the Commissioner), on the 30th anniversary of the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR), praised it as having created "a...more