The EU’s incoming head of competition policy stands to inherit a full slate of responsibilities related to fair markets and sustainable economies. With a successful confirmation hearing behind her, Teresa Ribera will step into the role of Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. A mission letter from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen charges Ms. Ribera with “[modernizing] the EU’s competition policy to ensure it supports European companies to innovate, compete and lead world-wide and contributes to our wider objectives on competitiveness and sustainability, social fairness and security.” Dr. Von der Leyen specifically hinted at a review of the EU horizontal merger guidelines (HMG) and a focus on the risks of killer acquisitions.
In a blog post, Analysis Group Vice President Joshua White, Senior Analyst Claire Paoli, and coauthor Jay Modrall (Norton Rose) explore how the mission letter’s ambitious mandate might translate into merger review policy. Noting that the mission letter urges not just a reassessment of the 20-year-old HMG but “calls for substantive changes” in how the European Commission assesses mergers under EU law, the authors posit that changes to the HMG could include increasing the influence of innovation-related efficiencies when weighing a transaction’s impact on competition; taking account of the EU’s present-day security and defense environments; and giving greater weight to time horizons and investment intensities for markets with longer product life cycles, such as energy or pharmaceuticals. In addition, they mention that the commission’s “non-horizontal merger guidelines are also overdue for an update.”
Mr. White, Ms. Paoli, and Mr. Modrall also consider how Ms. Ribera may strengthen protections against killer acquisitions, in which an incumbent business eliminates potential competition by acquiring a market entrant and then terminates development of a project that threatens the incumbent’s market share.
The blog post, “Mission Impossible? Teresa Ribera’s Mission Letter and the Future of EU Merger Review,” was published on the Kluwer Competition Law Blog.
Associated People
Joshua White
Mr. White is a consulting economist who specializes in applying microeconomics and sophisticated econometric modeling to complex litigation and merger-related questions, primarily in matters involving the health care, financial services, and technology industries. His work across a diverse set of engagements has encompassed simulating consumer demand and switching behavior, analyzing whether intellectual property (IP) licensing rates are FRAND-compliant, and estimating ex ante default probabilities for structured investment vehicles. He also has substantial experience developing innovative technological tools for analyzing datasets for merger and competition analyses.
Mr. White has supported both economic and scientific experts addressing competition and intellectual property (IP) issues in matters related to cutting-edge pharmaceutical products. He has supported clients in various jurisdictions and industries in follow-on cartel damages litigation, assessing overcharge, upstream and downstream pass-on, and volume effects.
Mr. White has worked in a number of international jurisdictions and has served as a testifying expert in the UK’s Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) on competition matters related to restrictive land covenants. He has also given evidence and submissions to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on behalf of clients involved in market investigations and mergers. Mr. White has supported several clients before the European Commission on cartel and merger matters and has provided support to European financial and competition regulators in coordinated conduct investigations. Mr. White has published a number of articles and regularly speaks at international competition law and policy conferences.