The Informed Board Podcast | Will the EU’s Focus on Foreign Subsidies Make It More Difficult To Acquire European Businesses?
On October 12, 2023, the European Commission (EC) ordered Illumina to unwind its already completed acquisition of the cancer-test provider GRAIL Inc. This is the first time that the EC has ordered a reversal of an...more
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
On 20 April 2023, the European Commission (EC) adopted a package of measures to “simplify” its merger control procedures. The reform expands the scope of the EU’s simplified merger control procedure, introduces a new...more
Overview of the FSR - The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU") prohibits any form of public financial support selectively granted to businesses that distorts competition, absent an exception. The EU's...more
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 18 May 2022, the European General Court rejected Canon’s appeal against a €28 million fine imposed by the European Commission in 2019 for its breach of EU gun-jumping rules, just a few months after a similar judgment,...more
On September 22, 2021, the European General Court issued its judgment upholding the decision by the European Commission (Commission) to fine Altice for gun-jumping in the acquisition of Portugal Telecom (PT) in 2015. The...more
On March 26, 2021, the European Commission (EC) published the findings of its recent evaluation of procedural and jurisdictional aspects of European Union (EU) merger control. The key result is a change in the EC’s policy...more
On 26 January, 2021, TransPerfect Legal Solutions (TLS) kicked off a virtual conference on EU and UK competition regulation. This article is the third of a three-part series highlighting the major takeaways from each session...more
Under current EU merger control rules, whether a concentration has to be notified to the European Commission (“Commission”) depends, among other things, on the level of revenue generated by the parties worldwide and in the...more
Key Takeaways - The European Commission has adopted a White Paper with proposals for sweeping enforcement powers to address potential distortive effects of foreign subsidies in the EU. The White Paper suggests that the...more
The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed how merger enforcement regimes around the world are currently reviewing proposed transactions. Two weeks into the new environment, we now have a body of experience from which to assess...more
On 27 June 2019 the European Commission imposed a fine of €28 million on the Japanese imaging and optical products manufacturer Canon for “gun-jumping” by using a warehousing structure in its 2016 acquisition of Toshiba...more
On 8th April 2019 the European Commission(“the Commission”) fined General Electric (“GE”) €52 million for providing incorrect information during the Commission’s investigation of GE’s planned acquisition of LM Wind which was...more
The European Commission recently reaffirmed that industrial policy objectives have no role to play when it comes to applying the EU merger control rules. Despite unusually intense industrial and political pressure to get the...more
On 24th April 2018 the European Commission announced that it had imposed a fine of €124.5 million on Altice, the multinational cable and telecommunications company based in the Netherlands, for implementing its acquisition...more
On 24 April 2018, the European Commission fined multinational telecoms company Altice €124.5 million (c.$150 million) for breaching EU merger control rules by implementing its acquisition of Portuguese telecoms operator PT...more
The Situation: A recent study examining common corporate shareholdings in the United States argues that the holding of even minority stakes in rival companies by institutional investors affects competition. The European...more
One of the key concerns of merging parties in any transaction is the steps they are allowed to take prior to the clearance of the merger. A recent case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-633/16 Ernst &...more