Author: 21st Century Competition

US: How the World Cup drives mega media mergers (Competition Policy International)

The world’s two largest merger deals were announced this year just ahead of the World Cup, which saw record-breaking audiences in the US. There’s a connection between the two, say experts.

According to reports, sports television is a major driving force between major M&A media deals. AT&T’s plans to acquire DirecTV …read more

China: M&A boom leads to big business for lawyers (Competition Policy International)

Antitrust lawyers are the new, big commodity in China now, according to reports, as mergers and acquisitions deals boom both national and across the globe.

In what’s on par to be a big year for M&A, China has seen one of the biggest influxes in antitrust matters. Just six years ago, …read more

EU: Almunia baffled by Germany’s green energy accusations (Competition Policy International)

The European Commission’s competition chief Joaquin Almunia said Thursday he is baffled by recent remarks made from Germany accusing the EU of undermining Germany’s efforts to boost green energy production, say reports.

The Commission initiated a probe last December into the project, which aims to phase out nuclear power over the …read more

European Commission – State aid: Commission orders Belgium to recover incompatible state aid from financial cooperative ARCO

European Commission Press release Brussels, 3 July 2014 Following an in-depth investigation, the European Commission has concluded that a Belgian guarantee scheme for shareholders of financial cooperatives was incompatible with EU state aid rules. …read more