Hogan Lovells Publications | Antitrust and Competition Alert | 06 April 2018

ICN report confirms that vertical merger challenges remain rare

At the ICN's recent annual conference in New Delhi, the Merger Working Group released a report summarizing the group's findings from a survey of NCAs on their approach to vertical mergers. Vertical mergers were a main theme of the conference and the conference also featured plenary panel discussions on the topic.

Both the plenary panel and the report reflect the fact that "competition experts world-wide have different opinions on the degree to which, and the circumstances in which, vertical mergers and vertical restraints may be harmful to competition and consumers." Released as trial in the Department of Justice's challenge to the AT&T/Time Warner transaction continues, the report also confirms that while certain jurisdictions have historically been more active than others, vertical issues are now being closely scrutinized in merger review around the globe.

Read More: ICN report confirms that vertical merger challenges remain rare, but are a real global trend

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