Mergers

Our highly qualified and experienced team provides robust economic analysis of the competitive effects associated with mergers, both in phase I and phase II investigations and acquisition.

We provide economic advice throughout all phases of merger proceedings. Our experts employ advanced economic tools to define the relevant antitrust markets from a product and geographic standpoint and analyse potential competition concerns of horizontal and vertical mergers.

In this context, we apply sophisticated economic and statistical techniques to assess the closeness of competition between differentiated products, competition in bidding markets, potential market foreclosure concerns, and other issues that frequently arise in the context of merger control.

The stakes are high – differences in merger prohibition risk across jurisdictions

Number of merger prohibitions and withdrawals compared to long-run average

  • EU
  • Germany

The figure compares the average prohibition risk in the years 2019-2021 to the previous 6 years. The European Commission reports the number of cases withdrawn in phase 1, the number of cases withdrawn in phase 2, and the number of prohibitions. The prohibition risk is the sum of these three numbers, relative to the total number of notifications. The German Bundeskartellamt reports the number of prohibitions and the number of cases withdrawn (or modified) at any stage of the proceeding, including the pre-notification phase. The prohibition risk is the sum of these two numbers, relative to the total number of notifications. Note that the figure should not be considered a simple measure of regulatory performance.

 

Source: E.CA Economics based on the European Commission and the Bundeskartellamt