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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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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Visa lags behind its main rivals in the European market for direct payments, with open-banking platform Tink potentially unlocking access to a significant market opportunity. However, the deal will undergo significant antitrust scrutiny in the EU and the U.K.
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The combination between AON and Willis Tower Watson hangs in the balance as antitrust concerns over large multi-national customers may be difficult to address with divestitures. With the U.S., EU, Australia and New Zealand raising similar concerns, the key for the approval may lie on a narrow market definition. The companies may need to beef up the divestment plan to appease regulators.
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The combination of AerCap and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) will create an aircraft leasing worldwide leader that would likely obtain all the necessary antitrust approvals despite the size of the companies. The merger isn’t likely to raise significant antitrust concerns, but even if it does, remedies may appease regulators. In this article we tell you why this market leader won’t raise antitrust concerns.
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A potential combination between Unicredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) won’t likely undergo significant antitrust scrutiny. Yet, certain actions by the Italian government may be considered State aid and they may complicate any deal. In this article we explain what these issues are and how likely is that the deal gets through.
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Peugeot’s proposed remedy to deepen its current agreement with Toyota to produce more cars for the Japanese automaker may help to appease EU regulators and bring an approval closer. Yet, in order to avoid divestitures, the automakers may have to beef up the remedy plan.
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