Efficiencies and Apple Pie
Submissions to the Competition and Markets Authority’s current consultation on merger efficiencies have a clear theme: That’s hardly surprising, is it, given the commercial benefits of a more relaxed regime…
Keep readingThe Great Merger Panel Vanishing Show – A Sketch In Several Increasingly Desperate Acts
(With apologies to one W. Shakespeare) CHORUS (entering solemnly): Attend, good folk, and lend thine ears, For strange events unfold this day. A tale of mergers, panels lost, And statesmen…
Keep readingHot Topics In UK Merger Control 2025
It’s always fascinating to see which posts attract the most attention – especially given that my subscribers overwhelmingly come from those with a real interest in UK merger control -…
Keep readingWhat’s The Real Reason For Replacing The CMA’s Panel System?
The Government has announced that it intends to abolish the independent panels that have long decided Phase 2 CMA merger cases and, until recently, have been widely seen as a…
Keep readingWhy All CMA Merger Efficiency Cases Need Reviewing
Advisers to merging companies continue to press for the CMA to relax its approach to merger efficiencies. ‘Twas ever thus. And why shouldn’t they, given their duty to clients and…
Keep readingStress-testing Your Merger Case: How Do You Measure Up?
Thanks to those of you who took up my invitation to talk about how to strengthen a merger case by applying great constructive challenge as the case develops. The basis…
Keep readingHow To Use Constructive Challenge To Strengthen Your Merger Case
Bob was disappointed, rather than reassured. As CEO, he’d asked a senior colleague to play Devil’s Advocate with the merger case his company were developing to put to the CMA.…
Keep readingWhere Is The Evidence About The Effects Of UK Merger Policy On Productivity and Growth?
People keep on telling me that the UK’s ‘tough’ stance on mergers has undermined productivity and growth. But every time I press for the evidence on this the main thing…
Keep readingBetter Late Than Never? – Reappraising The CMA’s Merger Record
Yes, you heard it here first. After all, challenge is what I do. As long-standing readers will know from a string of my previous posts, I’ve been questioning it for…
Keep readingThe Merger That Was Set Up To Fail
I’d been invited in to discuss the company’s early thinking about how to pitch their proposed merger to the CMA. They showed me a draft submission, a skillful attempt to…
Keep readingHow To Make Merger Control Policy Changes Much More Successful
Following on from my previous post (about ‘constructive challenge’ questions that few merging companies ask), a competition agency subscriber has asked me about challenging questions for competition agencies themselves when…
Keep readingPowerful Questions That Many Merging Companies Don’t Ask
“What have we learnt from how mergers just like our’s have fared when investigated by the CMA?” “What should we do right now to manage the risk that the CMA…
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Adrian Payne 