𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 ... 💭

You are the CFO of a company that supplies artisanal bakeries. You acquire your largest competitor. The acquisition remains well below all notification thresholds and therefore does not need to be notified to any competition authority. You proudly announce the takeover. The business is very enthusiastic. Since there is no need to wait for approval from competition authorities, this time you won’t spoil your company's ambitious timeline.

Or at least that’s what you thought. One day a letter from the French Competition Authority lands on your desk. It informs you that it is investigating the acquisition for a possible breach of competition law.

How strange. You had heard that this could happen when companies with a dominant position make acquisitions, but your company is not dominant at all. The letter from the French Competition Authority does not say that either, but it does say that the acquisition may be an anti-competitive agreement between undertakings.

What do you mean? Does this mean that all your acquisitions are now threatened?

𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞? Read our latest #inthepicture ‘Legal uncertainty for mergers and acquisitions between sector peers’, or contact our competition partner Herlinde Burez or senior associate Laura Sente 👉https://www.contrast.law/en/newsletters/in-the-picture/legal-uncertainty-for-mergers-and-acquisitions-between-sector-peers/

#competitionlaw #mergersandacquisitions #towercast