Fierce Competition Podcast | Below-Threshold Mergers: Global Antitrust Scrutiny
Podcast: Key Changes in Finalized Antitrust Merger Guidelines – Diagnosing Health Care
Fierce Competition Podcast | Takeaways From the Illumina-Grail Merger Challenge Saga
Fierce Competition Podcast | A Look at the Evolving Global Deal Landscape
The Informed Board Podcast | Will the EU’s Focus on Foreign Subsidies Make It More Difficult To Acquire European Businesses?
Podcast- The FTC's Mission: Competition and Antitrust
Uncorked With Farella: M&A in the Wine Industry With Robert Nicholson
EU & UK Competition Law & Public Interest: Best Practices & New Challenges ahead
Nota Bene Episode 123: Europe Q2 Check In - Brexit Updates and Antitrust Laws in the Digital Economy with Oliver Heinisch
Nota Bene Episode 112: How Europe is Filling Enforcement Gaps for Digital Gatekeepers with Robert Klotz and Ciara Barbu-O’Connor
JANUARY – MARCH 2025: KEY THEMES AND TAKEAWAYS - UNITED STATES - FTC Loses Vertical Challenge to Tempur Sealy/Mattress Firm On July 2, 2024, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed suit in federal court seeking to block...more
The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) is taking significant steps to evolve its approach to merger control, introducing a new Mergers Charter and launching a review of its merger remedies framework. These initiatives...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
A new strategic steer[1] published by the UK Government for consultation on 13th February 2025 seeks to change the CMA’s direction, focusing on growth and promoting investment in the UK via a series of measures aimed at...more
Searching for ways to achieve its promised ‘growth’ and productivity ambitions, the UK government turned its gaze on the UK regulators around October last year, with the UK prime minister promising to “rip up the bureaucracy...more
The United Arab Emirates enacted a new competition law in December 2023, which revamped the country's merger control regime and adopted a turnover-based threshold in addition to a market-share threshold... The UAE government...more
In the first merger challenge of the second Trump Administration, on January 30, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division filed suit seeking to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company’s (“HPE’s”) proposed...more
IN THIS JANUARY 2025 ISSUE - In the fourth quarter of 2024, US antitrust regulators continued their rigorous scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions. The US Department of Justice (DOJ), under the leadership of the outgoing...more
Davies recently submitted comments in response to consultations initiated by the Canadian Competition Bureau’s November 7, 2024 Discussion Paper on the Bureau’s review of its Merger Enforcement Guidelines (MEGs) to better...more
The incoming Trump administration suggests a potential return to more traditional levels of antitrust enforcement for energy industry mergers and a departure from novel theories of harm seen under current Federal Trade...more
Welcome to the latest edition of M&A Insights, where we bring together partners from across the A&O Shearman network to explore the themes shaping global dealmaking. The election of Donald Trump as President is expected to...more
In our biannual M&A trends report we explore the possible impact of the new U.S. administration on dealmaking, the dynamics of transatlantic M&A, private equity exits, and Mario Draghi’s proposals to reshape the European...more
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. James Webber (partner based in London) and Jess Bowring (counsel based in London) are our editors this month. They...more
After a 5-0 vote, on July 2, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sought to block mattress manufacturer (the “Manufacturer”) contemplated $4 billion acquisition of a mattress retailer (“Retailer”) by filing both an...more
Spotlight on below-threshold merger reviews: doubts over European Commission’s powers while in depth probes launched in Italy - Last month, we reported on the landmark Advocate General (AG) opinion in Illumina/GRAIL. The AG...more
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has finally been enacted. It introduces significant changes to U.K. merger control and antitrust rules, establishes a new consumer protection regime and introduces a...more
The Egyptian merger control regime will enter into force on 1 June 2024. In anticipation of this, the Egyptian Competition Authority has published the relevant notification forms, as well as detailed guidelines and Q&As to...more
The Egyptian pre-closing merger control regime will go into full effect on 1 June 2024. The Egyptian Competition Law was amended in December 2022 to introduce a new pre-closing merger control regime, but its enforcement was...more
The National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice announced a new self-disclosure policy on March 7, 2024 (M&A Policy) that impacts corporations, private equity firms, and venture capital firms and their...more
With Parliamentary elections and a series of national votes in 2024, the EU is entering a pivotal period in its history. In this study, ‘Global business in a changing Europe’, we speak to corporate leaders across the world to...more
As we move into 2024, legislative reform is on the minds of competition regulators in the region as they turn to competition policy to address perceived challenges in market structures and limit the extent to which businesses...more
Global merger control enforcement has become more interventionist across Europe, the US, Middle East and Australia, with antitrust regulators increasingly inclined to scrutinize and challenge mergers. Against the backdrop of...more
On 26 January 2024, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) finally published the Regulation of the State Council on the Threshold for Notification of Concentration of Business Operators (Final Thresholds...more
On December 18, 2023, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (Agencies) issued the 2023 Merger Guidelines, which replace the Agencies’ 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger...more
What You Need to Know- •The final 2023 Merger Guidelines are structured around 11 guidelines outlining the Agencies’ approach to merger enforcement. •Together with the massive changes to the HSR form proposed in June...more