NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Chiagozie Hilary-Nwokonko and Chukwuyere Ebere Izuogu, Streamsowers & Köhn
• in general terms, any clause providing for activities that cannot be reversed at a later time or which implies the expenditure of a significant amount of resources by the agents involved or the authority. 7. Third-Party Rights, Confidentiality and Cross-Border Co-Operation 7.1 Third-Party Rights Third parties are involved in the merger review process. Regulation 16 (1) of the MRR requires the FCCPC to publish a notice of a proposed merger upon satisfactory notification by the merger parties. Under Regulation 16 (2) of the MRR, the publication of the notice shall include an invitation to any interested third parties to comment on the merger by providing a written submission to the FCCPC within the prescribed timelines. In addition, Regulation 16 (3) of the MRR requires the merger parties, in notifying the merger to the FCCPC, to provide evidence of service of notice of the proposed merger to any registered trade union that represents the employees in the acquiring and target undertakings respectively, or to the employees or representatives of the employees of the acquiring and target undertak - ings if there are no such registered trade unions. 7.2 Contacting Third Parties In conducting a second-level review of the pro - posed merger, the FCCPC may hold hearings with third parties and issue detailed question - naires to market participants, such as key cus - tomers or competitors, and industry experts, such as relevant public authorities or regulators.
The FCCPC does not generally market-test the remedies proposed by the merger parties. However, in assessing the effectiveness of a pro - posed remedy, the FCCPC would consider its competitive impact – ie, whether the remedy is designed to address the identified competition harm that is likely to result from the merger, with due consideration to how the remedy changes the competitive dynamics of the market and the incentives of the post-merger firm post-remedy. In doing this, the FCCPC will set out terms in the Remedy Order that specify and anticipate potential issues that may arise during the imple - mentation phase to help actualise the intended competitive impact (eg, restoring competition) and protect against the merging parties’ ability to thwart the intended competitive impact. 7.3 Confidentiality The FCCPC publishes public notice of a pro - posed merger; however, commercial informa - tion is treated with the utmost confidentiality by the FCCPC at the request of the merger parties, including business secrets. If the merger parties believe that their interests would be harmed if any of the information they are required to sup - ply were to be published or otherwise divulged to other parties, they should submit this informa - tion separately, with each page clearly marked “Business Secrets” under separate cover. They must also give reasons why this information should not be divulged or published. In the case of business combinations or in other cases where the notification is completed by more than one of the parties, business secrets may be severally submitted under separate cover and referred to in the notification as an annex. All such annexes must be included in the submission for a notification to be considered complete.
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