Merger control in Ireland after the Uniphar/NaviCorp transaction: state of play meetings and market testing remedies

Gorecki, Paul (2023): Merger control in Ireland after the Uniphar/NaviCorp transaction: state of play meetings and market testing remedies.

Abstract

On 15 December 2022 the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), Ireland’s national competition authority, prohibited the acquisition by Uniphar plc of NaviCorp Limited. In the two decades in which the CCPC has been responsible for merger control this was the first instance in which the agency had prohibited a notifiable transaction in which there had been remedy proposals. The paper argues that the CCPC did not follow international best practice with respect to state of play meetings with the parties and the market testing of remedies. Timelines were compressed. Options – withdrawing the merger notification and offering remedy proposals – were narrowed, biasing the outcome of the CCPC’s merger investigation towards prohibition. The CCPC should reform its state of play/market testing procedures such that they are consistent with the timely and transparent processes employed in international best practice.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Merger control; state of play meetings; remedies; Competition & Consumer Protection Commission; administrative procedures; market testing remedies; and Competition Act 2002.
• Subjects: G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G34 - Mergers ; Acquisitions ; Restructuring ; Corporate Governance; K - Law and Economics > K2 - Regulation and Business Law > K21 - Antitrust Law

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