The antitrust case against Rogers Communications Inc.’s takeover of a rival is thousands of pages long but comes down to one core idea: the company it’s buying is too good. Analysts don’t see it that way, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Toronto-based Rogers is trying to acquire Shaw Communications Inc. for about C$20 billion ($15.4 billion) in what would […]
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Philip Morris International Inc has agreed to buy tobacco and nicotine products maker Swedish Match in a $16 billion deal that aims to cut the U.S. company’s dependence on cigarettes, Reuters reported. In a bet on fast-growing markets for cigarette alternatives, PMI said on Wednesday it was making a cash offer for the Stockholm-based group at 106 […]
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reviewing Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter Inc. takeover, a person familiar with the deal said, setting up a deadline in the next month for the agency to decide whether to conduct an in-depth review of the transaction, Bloomberg Reported Under U.S. merger law, Musk is required to notify the FTC and […]
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The Drilling Company Maersk Drilling said Monday that after the UK Competition and Markets Authority raised concerns over its planned acquisition by Noble Corp, the companies now plan to offer remedies. Noble agreed to buy Maersk Drilling last November in an all-share deal under which shareholders of each company would own 50% of the combined […]
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Ultra low cost carrier Spirit Airlines on Monday rejected JetBlue Airways’ $33-per-share takeover offer, saying it had a low likelihood of winning approval from government regulators, Reuters reported. JetBlue responded by enhancing its offer – but not its $33 per share price – and promising a $200 million reverse break-up fee – or $1.80 per Spirit share – […]
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The Committee on International Trade at the European Parliament backed yesterday, April 25, a proposal that could make the acquisition of EU companies by overseas firms lengthier — and in some cases, more difficult. The draft law was unanimously approved and gives the EU Commission the power to investigate and counteract market-distorting foreign subsidies granted […]
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On March 10, Visa announced that it completed its acquisition of Tink, an open banking platform that enables financial institutions, fintech and merchants to build financial products and services and move money. This is Visa´s largest acquisition in Europe since it acquired Visa Europe in 2016 and it will expand the company´s capabilities in the […]
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Yesterday, on March 16, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Mondaire Jones introduced a new bill, the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act, that if approved, could ban a significant number of deals and it will threaten to unwind another good number of past transactions. The proposed bill goes beyond what any other legislator or regulator around […]
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On March 8, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) held a hearing on the US Bancorp-MFUG Union Bank proposed merger. During the hearing, different witnesses raised issues on fair lending, branch closures and even on MFUG’s business in Russia. This was the first public meeting for a bank […]
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The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Jonathan Kanter warned that the department will seek to block deals that are “likely to lessen competition” rather than pursuing complex settlements. The warning came in one of his first speeches as head of the DOJ antitrust division at the New York State Bar Association. Kanter noted that antitrust law enforcement has […]
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