INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Jean-François Bellis and Porter Elliott, Van Bael & Bellis
Van Bael & Bellis Glaverbel Building Chaussée de la Hulpe 166 Terhulpsesteenweg B-1170 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32 2 647 73 50 Fax: +32 2 640 64 99 Email: brussels@vbb.com Web: www.vbb.com
As M&A Remains Sluggish, the Merger Control Sands are Shifting After a slow 2023, many market analysts pre - dicted a significant recovery in M&A activity in 2024. This recovery did not materialise. In fact, the number of transactions declined in 2024 compared to 2023, although total deal value slightly increased, buoyed by a few very large deals, such as ExxonMobil’s USD64.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. Undeterred speculators had high expecta - tions heading into 2025, which so far have not been met, as US tariff hikes and other policy measures, as well as geopolitical instability, have exacerbated market uncertainty and risk aversion. Whether the second half of 2025 will see the beginning of the long-anticipated M&A rebound remains to be seen. Either way, from a merger control perspective, it is clear that 2025 will be remembered as an unusually tumultu- ous year, with significant changes and increas - ing uncertainty prevailing in major jurisdictions around the globe. Changing landscapes across key merger control jurisdictions European Union As of 1 December 2024, there is a new EU Competition Commissioner: Teresa Ribera has
replaced Margrethe Vestager, who had held the position for the previous decade. Commissioner Ribera enters the job with a strong background on environmental issues – which is part of her new portfolio – and a clear mission from Euro - pean Commission President Ursula von der Ley - en to “modernise the EU's competition policy to ensure it supports European companies to innovate, compete and lead world-wide and contributes to our wider objectives on competi - tiveness and sustainability, social fairness and security”. On merger control specifically, Presi - dent von der Leyen has ordered a review of the Commission’s horizontal merger control guide - lines to “give adequate weight to the European economy’s more acute needs in respect of resil - ience, efficiency and innovation”. This follows the September 2024 publication of the much-discussed “Draghi Report”, which describes the need to increase European pro - ductivity as “an existential challenge” requiring “radical change” in a number of areas, one of which is competition law, including merger con - trol. According to the Draghi Report, the strict application of the EU merger control rules has generally been good for competition, but it has also made it difficult for European companies in certain key industries to scale up as needed to be able to invest more in innovation and com -
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