US companies may intensify anti-monopoly supervision over a new wave of mergers and acquisitions

In recent months, optimism about the future global economy has warmed up, and mergers and acquisitions among companies have also become frequent. Some analysts believe that the USA companies will set off a new wave of mergers and acquisitions. However, intensive M&A also attracts more rigorous supervision. USA scholars believe that anti-monopoly efforts may be stronger as the economy tends to improve.

Let’s take a look at some recent acquisitions in the newspapers:

"Bai Shen," Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Company had just joined forces with Brazilian private equity giant 3G Capital to purchase the USA food giant Heinz Company for US$23 billion last week; USA Airlines and National Airlines announced the news of the marriage. Calculated by revenue and number of passengers, the combined company will become the world’s rated airline; USA cable operator Com cast purchases shares of TV channel NBC held by General Electric; USA’s second and third largest office supplies chain Max’s office supplies The company and Odie office reached an M&A agreement, and will become the main competitor of USA’s currently rated office supply chain, Staples; Intercontinental Exchange Group (IC E) and NYSE Euronext also announced the acquisition of IC E. The NYSE cleared the main regulatory obstacle of this $8.2 billion acquisition through the approval of the USA "Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act."

The data released by data provider Dealogic shows that by 2013, the total size of announced M&A transactions in the United States reached US$160 billion, setting the beginning of a hot start since 2005.

Some analysts have said that the loose monetary policy adopted by the USA will allow companies with large cash holdings to look for M&A targets around the world. It is expected that M&A activity will continue to be active for some time to come. At the same time, as the valuation tends to be more reasonable, more technology companies will also join the ranks of mergers and acquisitions.

M&A boom triggered the enthusiasm of Wall Street, and the USA stock market rose sharply. However, the completion of mergers and acquisitions activities must first pass the supervision.

On the 19th, local time, the USA FBI stated that they are investigating possible internal transactions in the acquisition of Heinz. USA Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Donald said that the FBI aware of the existence of an option transaction before the Heinz acquisition transaction, will continue to cooperate with the USA SEC to determine whether there is a criminal act.

In addition, the USA's anti-monopoly law is also an important regulatory link to determine whether M&A transactions can be completed. M & A transactions need to face the anti-monopoly officials in the United States, and it was observed that after the start of Obama's second term, these officials became tougher. Especially in the face of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, officials of the Ministry of Justice are always trying their best to dissuade them.

In the past, the USA government blocked the mergers and acquisitions between AT&T and T-mobile, and believed that this merger would result in damage to the interests of consumers. Last month, Anheuser-Busch InBev’s acquisition of the Coronado beer maker G rupoM odelo in Mexico was also blocked because of the damage to the competition. Both parties stated that they jointly requested the Justice Department to shelve the filing of an anti-monopoly lawsuit. Specific details are still being discussed. Last year, Anheuser-Busch InBev proposed a $20.1 billion acquisition of the remaining shares held by GrupoM Dedelo, and if the deal is successful, it will be one of the beer industry's rated transactions. However, the USA Obama administration filed a lawsuit on January 31st, hoping to block the transaction on monopoly grounds. The US government stated that the deal allowed Anheuser-Busch InBev to further control the American beer market, reduce consumer choices, and drive up prices.

Earlier this year, the Antitrust Division of the USA Department of Justice ushered in the first standing director William J. Baer since mid-2011. The officer is studying issues related to antitrust laws throughout his career. Prior to joining the Ministry of Justice, Baer held positions at A rnold & Porter, and served as director of the Federal Trade Commission's Competition Bureau, and shared responsibility with the USA Department of Justice to implement antitrust.

At present, the judgement of monopoly by the USA in the judicial practice has changed from the simple scale to the market behavior. As long as it does not create obstacles to market access and does not abuse market dominance, even if the market share is high, it does not believe that monopoly will be formed.

During Obama’s first term of office, the Ministry of Justice deliberately approved a series of mergers and acquisitions, adding some restrictive conditions to it to make demands on corporate behavior. The Ministry of Justice had given some controversial mergers and acquisitions, such as mergers and acquisitions of T icketm aster and L ive N ation, Com cast’s acquisition of N BC U niversal, and Google’s purchase of travel software company IT A.

A University of Michigan professor's research shows that during the low economic period, the anti-monopoly goal usually comes second. He believes that during the first term of the Obama administration, Obama was at a time when the U.S. economy was in a weak period. Therefore, the anti-monopoly door was not severely shut down; however, when the economy improves, the situation will change.

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