‘There’s been a long-running debate since EU merger regulation came into being over 30 years ago about whether greater account should be taken of industrial policy, competitiveness, growth, and European champions,’ says Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Brussels antitrust partner Nick Levy.
With the EU launching new draft merger guidelines intended to make it easier for companies to push through big deals that could allow them to build the scale needed to become European ‘champions’ to rival US corporate giants, the debate has ramped up.
