A key morning session of our 2019 Corporate and M&A Summit saw Linklaters London competition head Nicole Kar chair a lively debate on competition law and policy and its effect on M&A. The panel of three featured economist Dr Claudio Calcagno, a vice president at Analysis Group and an expert in the competition arena, and John Gray, partner at Finsbury and head of its competition practice, who focuses on public affairs aspects of merger control cases, both in the UK and the EU.
Kar introduced the topic: ‘If you ask many general counsel what keeps them awake at night on a big deal, they will say: “Whether we are going to get clearance and at what price.”’ Set against this, she observed that competition policy is undergoing an existential crisis. A number of pressure points are causing this, namely a narrative among competition agencies and policymakers that there has been under-enforcement, particularly in the digital sector, and that competition policy should take account of wider social objectives alongside a defining philosophy that big is bad; and the general sense that major corporates wield too much power.
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