Mergers and Acquisitions
Most major competition authorities are authorized to prohibit mergers and acquisitions affecting their territory and to condition approval of a proposed merger on changes to the merger agreement (e.g., requiring a participant to divest certain assets). Many laws also require the participating parties to notify the competition authority before the transaction is completed (premerger notification). Combining independent firms into one unit (known generally as a merger) can greatly increase the power of the resulting entity and affect markets in many parts of the world. For example, if the two largest and most successful manufacturers of computer chips in the world combine, the consequences will be felt almost everywhere. Some competition law regimes have greater capacity (e.g., economic and political leverage) to influence mergers than others, and the chapter identifies the factors that determine how much influence a particular merger law is likely to have. It examines the procedures common to these regimes and the standards that competition law institutions use in evaluating them. The chapter also looks at how these rules and procedures create a complex global web of firms, competition authorities, and economic experts.