Antitrust Regulation of Mergers & Acquisitions and Other Business Combinations

Squire Sanders has decades of experience assisting clients to navigate the antitrust and competition regulation aspects of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other business combinations. Increasingly these transactions involve business operations in multiple countries, and business combinations by companies with assets and sales in more than one country can pose enormous legal complexities. Squire Sanders lawyers excel at obtaining the best possible results for clients in a variety of sectors including athletic apparel and footwear, automotive, aviation, building and construction, chemicals, computers and computer products, dairy, electric power, electrical products, emerging technology, financial institutions, forest products, foundry and castings, glass, healthcare, industrial diamonds, natural gas, paints and coatings, pharmaceuticals, railroads, retail, sports, steel, telecommunications, tires, trade and professional associations, and transportation.

We analyze the worldwide competitive impact of the proposed transaction and identify the issues that may be of concern to the regulatory authorities of particular countries. We assess whether the parties will need to comply with merger control laws, particularly premerger notification requirements, in any country affected by the merger. This is often a time-intensive effort that requires experienced lawyers who know the types of information clients need to provide to permit assessment of whether particular merger control filings need to be made. These filing requirements are no longer restricted to the United States and Europe – filings may also be required in countries as diverse as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, Israel, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and others.

We have counsel with whom we have worked in nearly every merger control jurisdiction around the world, and can identify and file merger transaction forms quickly and efficiently. We also have the capacity to resolve complex competition-related questions that may be raised by a specific country’s regulatory authorities, and to resolve those questions with the least amount of disruption to the transaction. Our experience in dealing with regulatory clearance issues at the FTC, DOJ and European Commission are unsurpassed.

Squire Sanders’ team approach to international mergers and acquisitions ensures that international antitrust considerations are assessed on the basis of a consistent and coordinated set of instructions. The result: a response that is comprehensive yet cost-effective. This is vital to the successful consummation of a transaction.