European Commission fines Canon €28m for failure to properly notify a merger

The European Commission has fined Canon €28 million after finding that it had partially implemented an acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (“TMSC”) before merger control notification. The EU operates a compulsory notification system, meaning parties must notify the European Commission of plans to merge before the transaction is completed. In this scenario, TMSC had…

Inmarsat takeover faces regulatory scrutiny in the UK

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has opened an investigation into the proposed private equity consortium takeover of Inmarsat. Inmarsat is the UK headquartered leading global mobile satellite communications provider of connectivity to ships, aircraft, and generally to locations not covered by traditional mobile networks. Moreover, it is reported that the CMA has also…

Commission clears Hutchison takeover of Wind Tre

The European Commission has cleared CK Hutchison’s takeover of Italian telecoms group, Wind Tre, subject to CK Huthcison agreeing to take full responsibility for the conditions imposed on Wind Tre when it was created. These conditions relate to the completion of spectrum transfer and site divestment, and to the implementation of the national roaming agreement…

New national security thresholds for merger control

The government has implemented its plans to amend the merger control thresholds in order to address national security concerns, initially set out in a Green Paper in October. In May the government published the Enterprise Act 2002 (Share of Supply Test) (Amendment) Order 2018 and the Enterprise Act 2002 (Turnover Test) (Amendment) Order 2018, which…