Merger Control

The Competition Act 2002 established the Irish compulsory notification system for specific types of acquisitions, mergers and multi-function joint ventures. The body charged with examining the bulk of these mergers (or "concentrations") is the Competition Authority . The acid test for approving transactions is whether they will “substantially lessen competition in markets for goods or services” on the island of Ireland. Parties involved in the transaction have to give notice of their intention to merge and suspend the closing of the deal pending a decision from the Competition Authority. This typically takes one month (Phase 1) but if there are complex issues involved in the transaction in question the Competition Authority has up to 4 months to conduct their investigation (Phase 2). In the absence of a formal response the transaction is deemed to be approved.

Media mergers require both the Competition Authority and the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment to be involved in the decision, with additional media specific criteria being applied by the Minister. The Competition Authority is excluded from reviewing banking mergers certified by the Minister of Finance (under the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008); these must be reviewed by the Minister of Finance alone.

Merger control services

Members of our team have advised public and private sector clients on both a national and EU level. Areas of expertise include:

• Competition due diligence
• Drafting merger notifications to the Irish Competition Authority and European Commission
• Drafting submissions on behalf of interested third parties
• Issuing complaints to the Irish Competition Authority and European Commission
• Preparation of judicial review appeals of merger decisions