White & Case Global Antitrust Merger StatPak

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White & Case Global Antitrust Merger StatPak (WAMS)

as of October 11, 2023

View full image: White & Case Antitrust Merger StatPak (WAMS) (PDF)

At Mid-Year 2023,  WAMS Data Show Global Decrease in Merger Filing Notifications, with Significant Declines in U.S. and EU Merger Filings

WAMS Database Reaches the 100-Jurisdiction Mark

WAMS@100

White & Case is proud to announce that its WAMS database is now tracking 100 merger control jurisdictions around the globe. WAMS began in the Fall of 2021 with just over 30 merger jurisdictions, but now surpasses the century mark. WAMS@100 aggregates and analyzes data from the Americas, Europe, Asia (South Asia, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, and the Middle East), and Africa (North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa).

United States: U.S. Merger Control Filings in H1 2023 Are Down Approximately 35% Compared to Same Period in 2022 While New Regulatory Hurdles to Mergers Have Been Announced

HSR premerger filings in January 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023 ("H1 2023") dropped 35% compared to H1 2022 and dropped 50% compared to H1 2021.

View full image: US monthly merger notification 2021 - 2023 YTD* (PDF)

View full image: US merger notifications, H1 2013 - H1 2023 graph (PDF)

In late June 2023 and July 2023, U.S. antitrust authorities announced sweeping changes to the HSR premerger notification Form,¹ and to the U.S. Merger Guidelines, replacing the 2010 Horizonal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines (collectively, the "Merger Guidelines").² To read more about these developments and what they mean for you, visit White & Case's client alerts here and here.

The HSR Form and Merger Guideline changes are expected to go formally into effect in Q1 2024. These key developments – before and after implementation – will almost certainly affect U.S. premerger notification filing trends in the coming months.

European Union: H1 2023 Merger Filings Control Notifications Are Down Approximately 20% Compared to H1 2022

In Europe, merger control notifications to the European Commission during H1 2023 (January 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023) are down approximately 20% compared to the number of notifications in H1 2022 (January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2022), which may indicate a decline in the M&A activity in Europe. During H1 2023, the European Commission received 151 notifications, and of those, 143 transactions were cleared without commitments. Five of the notified cases went to Phase II in H1 2023, which is slightly more compared to three Phase II proceedings launched in H1 2022. Two (out of five) mergers that went to Phase II in H1 2003 were in the digital sector,³ compared to three⁴ (out of eight) Phase II digital mergers in the entire last year 2022. This suggests that the number of digital mergers investigated in Phase II in 2023 could be higher than in 2022.

View full image: Number of Notifications and Cases Reviewed by the European Commission H1 2021 - H1 2023 graph (PDF)

Nordic Region: H1 2023 Merger Notifications Lower than H1 2023, but Are Up in Finland Compared to H1 2022 Levels

View full image: Number of Notifications Filed in Finland, Norway, and Sweden H1 2022 - 2023 graph (PDF)

Ukraine: Competition Authority Continues to Analyze Transactions in H1 2023 As Russia's War in Ukraine Continues

View full image: Ukraine merger notifications, 2018 - 2023* graph (PDF)

Japan: FY2022 Merger Filings Down 9.2% Compared To FY2021

View full image: Japan merger notifications, FY 2017 - FY 2022 graph (PDF)

South Korea: 2022 Merger Filings Nearly 25% Above Historical Five-Year Average While Proposed Legislative Amendments Seek To Respond To These Increases

View full image: South Korea merger notifications, 2017 - 2022 graph (PDF)

Mexico: Merger Filing Activity Drops in H1 2023 Potentially As a Result of New Levels of Scrutiny

View full image: Number of Transactions Notified in Mexico H1 2022 v. H1 2023 graph (PDF)

Brazil: H1 2023 Merger Notifications Decrease 20% Compared to H1 2022, But Remain Slightly Above Historical Five-Year Averages

View full image: Brazil merger notifications, H1 2018 - 2023 graph (PDF)

_{1 White & Case LLP, You're gonna need a bigger boat: Stormy waters ahead as the FTC proposes far-reaching changes to HSR Form (June 30, 2023). 2 White & Case LLP, U.S. Antitrust Agencies Propose Sweeping Changes to Merger Guidelines – 5 Key Things You Need to Know (July 20, 2023).  
3 Adobe/Figma, Amazon/iRobot
4 Broadcom/Vmware, Booking Holdings/Etraveli, Microsoft/Activision Blizzard}