News

16 | 05 | 2012

European Commission approves Südzucker's acquisition of control over ED&F Man

The European Commission has approved sugar producer Südzucker's acquisition of control over UK-based sugar trader ED&F Man following a Phase II investigation. The key area of overlap related to the Italian sugar market and in order to gain merger approval the parties agreed to divest ED&F Ma... More

19 | 04 | 2012

The European Commission unconditionally clears Linde/Air Products in Phase I

The European Commission has unconditionally cleared the acquisition of the homecare business of Air Products in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain by Linde following a Phase I investigation. Both parties provide oxygen and other therapies to patients in their homes. Despite significant ... More

26 | 03 | 2012

French Competition Authority clears Point P/Brossette subject to divestments

The French Competition Authority (FCA) has cleared the acquisition by Point P (part of Saint-Gobain) of Brossette (part of Wolseley), subject to the divestment of 22 local branches. Point P and Brossette are the two largest French distribution networks of plumbing and heating materials to profess... More

08 | 02 | 2012

OFT clears Jewson/Build Center subject to consultation on divestments

The OFT has cleared the acquisition by Jewson (part of Saint Gobain) of Build Center, two of the UK's largest general builder's merchants, subject to public consultation on draft provisional undertakings to divest the overlap branches in 22 local areas. The OFT found no concerns for national or r... More

15 | 12 | 2011

Patent Acquisition, Patent Wars and Technology Transfer: A Growing Area of Interest for Competition Policy

Company strategies in the area of intellectual property rights have long been almost exclusively the province of IP Law. This is rapidly changing. Competition authorities are having a closer look at how companies acquire IPRs, and how they enforce the IP rights that they hold. The European Commi... More

07 | 12 | 2011

CRA's Annual Conference takes place in Brussels

CRA's annual conference on "Economic Developments in European Competition Policy" took place in Brussels on 7 December. The programme included four Chief Economists from major European agencies (DG Competition, the UK Competition Com... More

24 | 11 | 2011

Competition Commission clears BATS/Chi-X Europe merger

Alan Overd and Rameet Sangha advised BATS Trading Limited, owned by BATS Global Markets Inc, on its anticipated acquisition of Chi-X Europe Limited. Both companies operate Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs) which enable market parti... More

25 | 10 | 2011

Competition Commission provisionally clears Kerry/Headland merger

The Competition Commission has provisionally cleared the completed acquisition of Headland's frozen ready meals (FRM) business by Kerry Foods. Before the merger in January 2011, Kerry and Headland were the two largest suppliers of own-label and contract-packed FRMs to UK customers (typically supe... More

19 | 10 | 2011

European Commission clears acquisition of MWM by Caterpillar

The European Commission has unconditionally cleared Caterpillar's proposed acquisition of MWM, a German maker of reciprocating engine generator sets, or gensets, used for decentralised electricity production, after an in-depth Phase II investigation. While the Commission considered that the merge... More

12 | 10 | 2011

New colleagues from the Chief Economist Team and academia

CRA has expanded its team in Brussels by recruiting three economists from the Chief Economist Team at DG Competition. Dr Raphaël De Coninck, Dr Greg Langus and Dr Hans Zenger all join CRA's Brussels office as Senior Consultants. In addition Pierre Régibeau - a well-known academic eco... More