International Merger Policy

International Merger Policy offers a compelling comparative assessment of domestic and regional merger laws and procedures. Identifying important areas of convergence and emerging best practice, it considers existing levels of international cooperation

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A comprehensive analysis of merger outcomes based on all empirical studies, with an assessment of the effectiveness of antitrust policy toward mergers. In recent decades, antitrust investigations and cases targeting mergers—including those involving Google, Ticketmaster, and much of the domestic airline industry—have reshaped industries and changed business practices profoundly. And yet there has been a relative dearth of detailed evaluations of the effects of mergers and the effectiveness of merger policy. In this book, John Kwoka, a noted authority on industrial organization, examines all reliable empirical studies of the effect of specific mergers and develops entirely new information about the policies and remedies of antitrust agencies regarding these mergers. Combined with data on outcomes, this policy information enables analysis of, and creates new insights into, mergers, merger policies, and the effectiveness of remedies in preventing anticompetitive outcomes. After an overview of mergers, merger policy, and a common approach to merger analysis, Kwoka offers a detailed analysis of the studied mergers, relevant policies, and chosen remedies. Kwoka finds, first and foremost, that most of the studied mergers resulted in competitive harm, usually in the form of higher product prices but also with respect to various non-price outcomes. Other important findings include the fact that joint ventures and code sharing arrangements do not result in such harm and that policies intended to remedy mergers—especially conduct remedies—are not generally effective in restraining price increases. The book's uniquely comprehensive analysis advances our understanding of merger decisions and policies, suggests policy improvements for competition agencies and remedies, and points the way to future research.

This book provides the reader with an overview of the origin of corporations and the history of mergers and acquisitions. It demystifies the dynamics of mergers and identifies the unique impediments facing cross-border mergers and acquisitions, with great attention to the pre-merger control laws and regulations, in several regions (US, EU, and Middle East). Most importantly, it discusses and assesses merger deregulation and other key reforming proposals.

The major problem associated with the regulation of transnational mergers, which affect several national markets, is the allocation of jurisdiction. Each country concerned may wish to exert jurisdiction and apply its national competition law to regulate the anti-competitive effects a merger may have in its territory. However, this approach may lead to risks of inconsistent decisions regarding the legality of mergers. Indeed, the national competition laws applied by the regulating authorities may diverge in several aspects, which raise the likelihood of inconsistency. Therefore it is desirable to opt for regulatory approaches which are more sensitive to the transnational nature of mergers and which allow cooperation between competition authorities. A possible solution may be bilateral cooperation agreements through which two countries coordinate the enforcement activities of their national competition authorities. However, the benefits of these agreements are enjoyed only by the signatory parties. The sole reliance upon bilateral agreements does not appear to be the optimal regulatory approach towards transnational mergers.

This report analyses the economic effects of mergers with special reference to available empirical evidence, describes the different systems of merger control in existence in Member countries, considers the special problems raised by international mergers, and presents some general conclusions and policy options for Member Governments.

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1,7, University of Kent (Kent Business School), language: English, abstract: The history of mankind is marked by the striving of a person to surpass oneself. In the early days growth was mainly achieved by enlarging the own family, and during the times of sedentarisation growth was achieved by claiming more areas of arable land. These two human characteristics have survived to the present day and have been transferred into modern world economy - on the one hand striving for more and on the other hand the increase of own power or influence. Nowadays those men are called entrepreneurs, and they take care of these things in the economic world through Mergers and Acquisitions. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that this kind of enterprise growth has found more and more approval in the course of the last years. It is easy to recognize that development by comparing the impressively increasing transaction volumes. That this trend will obviously continue has been confirmed by one of the most recent surveys conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (Kronimus et al., 2009). According to the survey every fifth company in Europe plans an acquisition in the year 2010 - in spite of the continuing economic crisis. These figures look impressive, but if one gets deeper into the subject, one realises that almost 70% of these mergers do not achieve the intended objectives (Palmer, n.d.), or are even regarded as a complete failure (Habeck et al., 2000). Remarkable is the fact that there are even unsuccessful mergers involving financially sound companies. Therefore, it can be concluded that the success of a merger or a takeover not only depends on the financial evaluation of the involved organisations but rather that there must be other factors which play a significant role. These other factors will be identified in this paper and their importance will be critically discussed.