Wire harnesses – this time subject of a lawful cooperation and not of a cartel

Wire harnesses have already been subject of a cartel decision. However, this time they are subject of a legitimate cooperation. Last month, the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) declared that it has no objections to a cooperation organized by the "Arena2036 Research Campus", which aims at standardizing the production of wire harnesses. While the FCO's … Continue reading Wire harnesses – this time subject of a lawful cooperation and not of a cartel →

The sky is not the limit

The week got off to the worst possible start for Booking: On Monday, the European Commission prohibited Booking’s proposed acquisition of eTraveli, one of the main providers of flight online travel agency services in Europe (we have already reported about the case here). In this post, I summarize the key points of the decision to … Continue reading The sky is not the limit →

New German FDI association – Learnings from the first annual meeting

Practitioners often criticize the lack of transparency in FDI proceedings in Germany (and elsewhere). The fact that decisions are not made public further adds to that lack of transparency. So, the inaugural meeting of the German “Forum Investitionsprüfung”, which was also attended by many representatives from German ministries, presented a valuable opportunity to gain insights … Continue reading New German FDI association – Learnings from the first annual meeting →

Germany blocks the full acquisition of an already majority-owned company

News broke yesterday that the German government prohibited the acquisition of 45% of the shares in a German satellite company by a Chinese acquirer. The notable twist: The acquirer already held 53% of the shares in the target. Kleo Connect is a German start-up that wants to provide global satellite data communications. 53% of its … Continue reading Germany blocks the full acquisition of an already majority-owned company →

Interventionism before EU courts

Parties, which are of the opinion that their interests are affected by a merger, have the opportunity to intervene in a case in order to pursue their interests – also during EU court proceedings. Most recently, this played a role in Illumina/Grail (we've reported on that case several times, see inter alia here). In this … Continue reading Interventionism before EU courts →

State of play: The EC‘s ongoing phase 2 mergers

At the moment, the European Commission has to deal with a number of phase 2 cases. While the outcome still seems to be open, there are already a few interesting observations which will be important to keep in mind going forward. Here is an overview. Contrary to popular belief, the European Commission remained active … Continue reading State of play: The EC‘s ongoing phase 2 mergers →

The latest on gun jumping and merger control jurisdiction from the European Commission

It is said that things slow down over the summer. However, for friends of European merger control, there are several new developments that make you sit up and take notice. These cases concern merger control evergreens like gun-jumping and merger control jurisdiction. A potential gun jumping case… About a month ago, the European Commission announced … Continue reading The latest on gun jumping and merger control jurisdiction from the European Commission →

EU Commission already under pressure to investigate foreign subsidies?

The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation started to apply about a month ago. Most observers expected the regulation’s strongest impact to be on M&A transactions, not least because the European Commission does not exactly seem to have an abundance of staff to deal with the new rules. Yet, the regulator received at least two complaints against … Continue reading EU Commission already under pressure to investigate foreign subsidies? →

No poach agreements: It’s getting expensive

Every now and then, one gets the impression that certain topics are identified as an enforcement trend early on, but in practice fail to meet “expectations”. Antitrust issues in labour markets garnered attention for a while as an increasing number of investigations have gradually come to light. Last week, the Turkish regulator ended a major … Continue reading No poach agreements: It’s getting expensive →

Less strict rules for parity clauses in Germany?

The German Bundeskartellamt terminated its proceedings regarding price parity clauses against Lieferando, one of Germany's leading food delivery platforms. Since the Bundeskartellamt has been rather critical of price parity clauses in the past, the termination might have come as quite a surprise. This post takes a look at the reasons for terminating the proceedings and … Continue reading Less strict rules for parity clauses in Germany? →