17 May 2021

2nd International Mergers Conference

Date & place

From 17 to 20 May 2021

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Program

17 May

WEBINAR #1
Webinar held on Monday 17 May 2021 14:30 - 16:00 BST
See below for the documentation of this webinar.

Deni MANTZARI | Associate Professor, Competition Law and Policy, Acting Director - Centre for Law, Economics and Society, Faculty of Laws, University College London (bio)

RECONCILING EFFICIENCIES AND PUBLIC POLICY OBJECTIVES:
FDI, FFD, NON-COMPETITION CONSIDERATIONS…
Governments may attempt to mitigate the impact of the crisis on their national economies by acquiring control of strategic companies or by encouraging or even promoting mergers between private parties. In the long term, Covid-19 may act as a catalyst in expanding the notion of efficiencies in merger review to also consider other factors that relate to market resilience, environmental sustainability, privacy...

Sara ASHALL | Counsel, Shearman & Sterling, Brussels (bio)
Julian NOWAG | Associate Professor, Lund University | Lecturer, Oxford University (bio)
Martijn SNOEP | Chairman, The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets, The Hague (bio)
Joshua WHITE | Vice President, Analysis Group, London (bio)
Moderator: Ioannis LIANOS | President, Hellenic Competition Commission | Professor of Global Competition Law and Public Policy, Faculty of Laws, University College London (on leave) (bio)

18 May

WEBINAR #2
Webinar held on Tuesday 18 May 2021 14:30 - 16:00 BST
See below for the documentation of this webinar.

THE COUNTERFACTUAL SCENARIO IN TIMES OF CRISIS
A prospective analysis can be challenging when there is uncertainty as to how the relevant sector will respond to this crisis...

Fabrizio DI BENEDETTO | Team Coordinator Antitrust Affairs, Intesa Sanpaolo, Milan (bio)
Cani FERNÁNDEZ | President, Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, Madrid (bio)
Nicholas LEVY | Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, London/Brussels (bio)
Birthe PANHANS | Deputy Head of Unit - Mergers case support and policy, DG COMP, Brussels (bio)
Barbara VERONESE | Partner, Oxera, Milan (bio)
Moderator: Frédéric JENNY | Chairman, OECD Competition Committee - President, Concurrences Review International Committee - Professor, Co-Director - CEDE, ESSEC, Paris (bio)

19 May

WEBINAR #3
Webinar held on Wednesday 19 May 2021 14:30 - 16:00 BST
See below for the documentation of this webinar.
REMEDIES: DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION & REVISION OF REMEDIES
Behavioural vs. structural remedies in conglomerate/vertical mergers, Access to key technologies...

Joel BAMFORD | Senior Director of Mergers, UK Competition & Markets Authority, London (bio)
Tembinkosi BONAKELE | Commissioner, South African Competition Commission, Pretoria (bio)
Etienne CHANTREL | Head of Mergers Unit, Autorité de la concurrence, Paris (bio)
Kirsten EDWARDS-WARREN | Executive Vice President, Compass Lexecon, London (bio)
Ulla SCHWAGER | Deputy Head of Unit - Mergers, Markets and cases III: Financial services, DG COMP, Brussels (bio)
Moderator: Gönenç GÜRKAYNAK | Partner, ELIG Gürkaynak Attorneys-at-Law, Istanbul (bio)

20 May

WEBINAR #4
Webinar held on Thursday 20 May 2021 14:00 - 16:30 BST
See below for the documentation of this webinar.

CHALLENGES FOR MERGERS IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
Killer Acquisitions: Basic Theory of Harm and Detection; Digital Mergers: Assessment of Efficiencies; Economics and Rebuttable Presumptions; Timely and fair merger proceedings in Europe: What Procedural innovations for merger control?; Article 22 EUMR referrals: A solution to Killer Acquisitions?

Aleksandra BOUTIN | Founding Partner, Positive Competition, Brussels (bio)
Timothy LAMB | Director - Competition & Regulatory, Facebook, London (bio)
Martin PEITZ | Professor of economics, University of Mannheim (bio)
Pierre REGIBEAU | Chief Economist, DG COMP, Brussels (bio)
Moderator: Deni MANTZARI | Associate Professor - Competition Law and Policy, Acting Director - Centre for Law, Economics and Society, Faculty of Laws, University College London (bio)

CLOSING: THE ROLE OF THE COURTS IN MERGER REVIEW

Peter FREEMAN CBE QC (Hon) | Chairman, UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, London (bio)
Christopher VAJDA QC | Former UK Judge, Court of Justice of the EU | Visiting professor, King’s College London (bio)
Moderator: Jorge Padilla | Head of Compass Lexecon EMEA, Brussels (bio)

Previous edition attendees

Corporations: Amazon, AmericanExpress, Apple, Asda, Auchan, Retail, BAE Systems, Bausch & Lomb, BBC, CCIA, Connectt, Costa Coffee, EuroEnergy, General Electric, GSMA, Illumina, ING, International Airlines Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, Kroll, Liberty Global, Lloyds Banking Group, Market Securities, NASDAQ, NBCUniversal, Openreach, Qualcomm, Rolls Royce, Shell, Telefonica, The Coca-Cola Company, Verizon, Visa, Walmart, ZX Ventures

Agencies: Algerian Competition Council, Autorité de la concurrence, Competition and Markets Authority, Competition Appeal Tribunal, Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, DG COMP, Financial Conduct Authority, General Court of the EU, Georgian National Communications Commission, Hellenic Competition Commission, Hungarian Competition Authority, Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission, OECD, Ofcom, Ofgem, Punjab Bar Council

Law Firms: Acuity Law, Akin Gump, Arnold & Porter, Ashurst, Baker McKenzie, BDB Pitmans, Bird & Bird, Bixer Partners, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Callol, Coca & Asociados, Charles Russell Speechlys, Cleary Gottlieb, Clifford Chance, Colman Coyle, Cooley, Deprez Guignot Associés, EY, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Geradin Partners, Gowling WLG, Greenberg Traurig, Hausfeld Havel & Partners, Hengeler Mueller, Herbert Smith Freehills, India Regulatory & Policy Group, Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Lavoielegal, Linklaters, Mattos Filho Advogados, Merilampi Attorneys, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, PWW Solicitors, Quinn Emanuel, Reed Smith, SAI Law & Economics, Schoenherr, Shearman & Sterling, Sidley Austin, Skadden, Slaughter & May, Taylor Wessing, Travers Smith, Varlet Bertrand, White & Case

Economic consultancies: Alvarez & Marsal, Analysis Group, Compass Lexecon, Cornerstone Research, CRA, Econda, ESP Consulting, Finsbury, Frontier Economics, Intelad, KPMG, NERA Economic Consulting, OmniCLES, Oxera, RBB Economics, Smith & Williamson, Taconic Capital Advisors

Media: Bloomberg, Dealreporter, GCR, LexisNexis, MLex, PaRR, Politico, Reorg, Thomson Reuters

Academia: All Souls College, Bocconi University, BPP University, Brunel University, Edinburgh University, ESSEC, Georgetown University, Hiroshima Shudo University, King’s College London, London School of Economics, London South Bank University, Newcastle University, Oxford University, Portucalense Institute for Legal Research, Queen Mary University, St Mary’s University, Stanford Law School, The Graduate Institute, University College London, University of Cambridge, University of Cergy-Pontoise, University of Chicago, University of East Anglia, University of Edinburgh, University of Essex, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University of Reading, University of Toronto, University of Vienna, University of Westminster, University of York

If you would like to read about this event’s topic, you can access the following Concurrences documents. If you do not have an access, please inquire for Subscription here.

Webinar #1 - Introductory remarks & Reconciling efficiencies and public policy objectives

Full video, podcast and other materials

Available here

1. Interview with Julian Nowag (Lund University), by Sara Ashall (Counsel, Shearman & Sterling)

2. Book, Simon Holmes, Dirk Middelschulte, Martijn Snoep, Competition Law, Climate Change & Environmental Sustainability, 26 March 2021

3. Webinar, Increasing FDI scrutiny in the EU: What does this mean in practice?, 2 February 2021

4. Christian Ahlborn, Christoph Barth, David-Julien dos Santos Goncalves, Foreign investment: An overview of EU and national case law, 17 December 2020, e-Competitions Foreign Investment, Art. N° 98126

5. Joanna Christoforou, Omar Shah, Savas Manoussakis, The UK Government proposes national security investment screening regime, 11 November 2020, e-Competitions November 2020, Art. N° 98001

6. Didier Theophile, Anne Faber, Failing firm defence – a tool in crisis?, September 2020, Concurrences N° 3-2020, Art. N° 95465

7. Webinar, Industrial Policy and Competition Policy in the post-Covid, 15 May 2020

Webinar #2 - The counterfactual scenario in times of crisis

Full video, podcast and other materials

Available here

1. Webinar, Vertical Mergers: The Implications of the COVID-19 Crisis on Vertical Mergers, 17 June 2020

2. Neil Cuninghame, Denis Fosselard, Peter Armitage, Nigel Parr, Christopher Eberhardt, Mergers & COVID-19: The impact on EU and national merger control, 23 April 2020, e-Competitions Mergers & Covid-19, Art. N° 94286

3. Miranda Cole, Jérôme de Ponsay, The UK Competition Authority publishes its guidance on merger assessments during COVID-19 pandemic, 22 April 2020, e-Competitions April 2020, Art. N° 96383

4. Etienne Chantrel, Jean-Mathieu Cot, Etienne Pfister, Séverine Schrameck, Should ex post merger reviews be more widespread?, February 2020, Concurrences N° 1-2020, Art. N° 92660, pp. 22-38

5. Nicholas Levy, Judicial review of merger decisions: An overview of EU and national case law, 14 August 2019, e-Competitions Mergers judicial review, Art. N° 90747

Webinar #3 - Remedies: Design, implementation & revision of remedies
Full video, podcast and other materials

Available here

1. Spanish Competition Authority, The Spanish Competition Authority authorises the merger between two national foil packaging manufacturers submitted to conditions (Enoflex / Sparflex), 16 March 2021, e-Competitions March 2021, Art. N° 99685

2. European Commission, The EU Commission clears the acquisition of American medical devices provider by leading medical imaging solutions company subject to conditions (Varian / Siemens Healthineers), 19 February 2021, e-Competitions March 2021, Art. N° 99416

3. US Federal Trade Commission, The US FTC approves merger between two national pharmaceutical companies subject to conditions (Pfizer / Mylan), 28 January 2021, e-Competitions January 2021, Art. N° 98981

4. European Commission, The EU Commission clears acquisition of American financial markets data and infrastructure provider by a financial infrastructure company subject to conditions (Refinitiv / London Stock Exchange), 13 January 2021, e-Competitions January 2021, Art. N° 98969

5. Gönenç Gürkaynak, The Turkish Parliament approves amendments to the national competition law which introduces mechanisms as to the selection of cases for the Authority to focus on, a substantive test for merger control, behavioral and structural remedies for anti-competitive conduct and procedural tools, 16 June 2020, e-Competitions June 2020, Art. N° 95406

Webinar #4 - Challenges for mergers in the digital economy & Closing discussion
Full video, podcast and other materials

Available here

1. Interview with Martin Peitz (University of Mannheim), by Aleksandra Boutin (Positive Competition)

2. Jorge Padilla, An economist’s perspective on  the EU competition judicial review process, 9 May 2021

3. UK Competition Authority, The UK Competition Authority finds that the merger between two big tech companies raises competition concerns in relation to digital advertising and the supply of GIFs (Facebook / Giphy), 25 March 2021, e-Competitions Preview, Art. N° 99848

4. European Commission, The EU Commission clears acquisition of healthcare manufacturer by a big tech company, subject to conditions (Fitbit / Google), 17 December 2020, e-Competitions December 2020, Art. N° 98498

5. Bill Batchelor, Frederic Depoortere, Giorgio Motta, Ingrid Vandenborre, Aurora Luoma, Nick Wolfe, Tom R. Selwyn Sharpe, The UK Competition Authority launches consultation on revised merger assessment guidelines, 17 November 2020, e-Competitions November 2020, Art. N° 98181

6. Webinar, The future of EU and UK merger control enforcement, 17 September 2020

7. Tristan Lécuyer, Digital conglomerates and killer acquisitions: A discussion of the competitive effects of start-up acquisitions by digital platforms, February 2020, Concurrences N° 1-2020, Art. N° 92964, pp. 42-50

Organizers

This second edition of the International Mergers Conference is organised by Concurrences in partnership with University College London with the support of panel and media sponsors. Please register for the webinar of each panel. These webinars are open to all without fee/cost. The list of attendees will be communicated to the speakers.

By registering for a webinar, you are submitting your information to the webinar organisers, who will use it to communicate with you regarding this event and their other services. This webinar will be recorded. If your question is selected for the Q&A session, you are consenting to be recorded.

The official hashtag of this event on our social media is #InternationalMergers. Use it to get updated and add your inputs to the discussions. See above this page for the links to our social media accounts.