Transatlantic Merger Cases

Despite the introduction of the U.S. - EC merger review co-operation initiative in the early nineties, transatlantic mergers remain a minefield for all those involved. For the parties there is the lack of legal certainty and its attendant costs and reputation; for the regulators there is the political toll of reconciling conflicting competition policies. Charles Smitherman reviews merger regulation frameworks on both sides of the Atlantic. The author identifies areas of substantive and procedural differences as they exist today and explores the viability of convergence to aid the efficiency of the merger process through bilateral and domestic enhancements. Throughout the work the emphasis is placed on pragmatic solutions rather than those of academic and oft-unobtainable nature. The backbone of the work is made up of the analysis of eight of the biggest U.S. - EC merger cases between 2000 and 2004.

We propose a framework to examine tendencies of convergence in the jurisdictional patterns of the American FTC and the European Commission. Based on a sample of 595 merger cases scrutinized by either of these agencies in the 1995 - 2007 period, we calibrate logit models of the probability of intervening in a merger for both jurisdictions and use them to predict the decisions of the respectively other agency. The results point to an increasing harmonization of merger regimes and corroborate the theoretical appraisal, that the 2004 reform of EU merger law constituted a step towards the US system.

This book is intended to show ways to successful cooperation. Going beyond M&A, it demonstrates how economical ties and personal behaviour can positively influence our international relations. The value to M&A professionals will be generated through better understanding the views from the other side of the Atlantic, through new M&A insights from other industries and from experts working in consulting and finance. Thus, it is also of high value to all those working on partnerships between the USA or Germany and any other country. The book deals with many different aspects, starting from overall strategies, and ending up with lessons learnt from the special cases. Reflecting behavioural, economic or legal aspects, there are articles showing one side only to work out country or industry specifics and others comparing the nationally different systems and surroundings.

How will the rapid growth of trade, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and international joint ventures alter antitrust enforcement? Can national antitrust enforcement guard against anticompetitive corporate practices in a globalizing world? Or will international friction increase as nations disagree over antitrust cases, like the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger? Recognizing the sheer volume of transatlantic commerce, the EU and U.S. have long cooperated on antitrust matters, but what has that cooperation achieved? And how far should such cooperation go in the future? This volume addresses these questions in the context of antitrust policies towards cartels, mergers and acquisitions, and vertical restraints. Leading experts elucidate the changing nature of antitrust enforcement on both sides of the Atlantic, with a keen eye to future multilateral, as well as bilateral, developments.

Governance in the global economy is a topic of enormous importance. Despite the triumph of free trade, many actors still try to protect important sectors of society from the potentially destructive effects of unfettered free markets, and rules remain indispensable in settling disputes among states over trade, investments, and copyrights. This book is particularly significant because of its conceptual clarity and broad scope. Focusing on the transatlantic area as the engine of the world economy, the editors assess three different conceptual models offered by scholars: the classic state-centered approach, the transgovernmental approach, and the transnational system of private actors in an emerging global society. After a series of excellent case studies on trade and competition policies, food safety, business and labor dialogues, and civil-society initiatives, the editors conclude that 'the U.S. executive and the European Commission have been and remain the dominant actors in transatlantic governance.' Among all these networks, business remains the most successful. At a time when many essay collections are loosely shaped, unoriginal, or jargon-ridden, this one is a model of research and analysis. —-Foreign Affairs

The European and American economies are closely interlinked as mutually important investment and trading partners. The growing intensity of economic interdependence has spurred the transatlantic coordination of rules and standards that can lead to the formation of non-tariff barriers to transatlantic commerce. But despite impressive government-to-government efforts to eliminate market barriers, the E.U. and the U.S. have frequently clashed over each other's regulatory policies. The aim of this book is to explore the domestic sources of cooperation or conflict in transatlantic regulation. The book analyses the role of domestic factors through three theoretical lenses that are well-established in the study of multilevel systems: the principal-agent approach, the two-level game metaphor, and through a wider concept of institutionalism which emphasises the links between societal interests and regulatory ideas with institutional frameworks. The book states that domestic factors embody more obstacles than opportunities for horizontal coordination. It is argued that transatlantic relations will likely undergo a ‘double movement’ of being simultaneously shifted upwards to become part of the global governance architecture, and downwards towards broader involvement of legislators in regulatory matters. Hence, transatlantic regulation might in the near future be shaped more by political leaders, rent-seeking interest groups and legislators than by networks of technocrats. This book was published as a special issue of the Review of International Political Economy.

Competition policy—encompassing cartels, monopolies, mergers and state aid—is a hallmark of the European Union (EU). In recent decades, the EU’s competition policy has evolved under pressures from globalization. The EU in turn has been a key actor driving the globalization of the world economy through its increasingly active competition policy. This volume identifies and explores the major transformations that EU competition policy has undergone in the last decade in response to various pressures related to globalization, in particular, economic interdependence, the proliferation of national and regional competition regimes, and the financial and economic crisis. The individual chapters, written by specialists of EU competition policy from both sides of the Atlantic and from the perspectives of political science, management and public policy, investigate how the EU has responded to these challenges in each area of competition policy, and demonstrate that it has, on balance, been quite successful in responding to them, with some exceptions in the areas of state aid and mergers. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.