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Oxford Competition Law (OCL) is the only fully integrated service to combine recognised market-leading commentaries with rigorous, selective National case reports and analysis from EU member states. OCL provides a suite of fully interlinked competition analysis, peer reviewed case reports and source materials - the ideal resource for assisting with case preparation.

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When time is of the essence in merger cases – fixing it fast

John Boyce and Anna Lyle-Smythe
29th May 2019

Where parties commit to divest a business in order to secure European Commission clearance of a deal notified under the EU Merger Regulation, the remedy buyer and the terms of the divestment agreement must be approved by the Commission before the divestment can be implemented. In most cases, this approval process involves the parties submitting a purchaser approval request after the conditional clearance decision. This “standard purchaser assessment process” culminates in the Commission issuing a separate purchaser approval decision, typically some months after the main transaction has closed.

However, in a substantial number of cases the parties include an ‘upfront buyer provision’ in the commitments, requiring the closing of the main transaction to be delayed until the Commission has formally approved the remedy buyer. Sometimes, a remedy buyer is secured even earlier in the process and the Commission accepts a ‘fix-it first’ remedy, where approval of the buyer is incorporated into the conditional clearance decision itself.

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