Etisalat/PPF Telecom Group merger (pending case)
06 December 23
Miklós Kozma
The Hungarian and Slovak competition authorities unconditionally cleared the proposed acquisition of a controlling majority stake in PPF’s telecoms subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia by Emirates Telecommunication Group Company (Etisalat, also known as e&). The transaction was also notified to the Bulgarian competition authority, which has not yet announced a decision. In addition, PPF said that it expects that the transaction will be reviewed under the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
Adobe/Figma merger UK (pending case)
03 December 23
Miklós Kozma
Update: The UK competition authority provisionally concluded that Adobe’s proposed $20bn (€18.37bn) acquisition of rival software company Figma would harm competition in the global markets for product design software, vector editing software and raster editing software. The authority is consulting on its provisional findings until 19 December 2023, and its final decision is due by 25 February 2024.
Amazon/iRobot merger EU (pending case)
29 November 23
Miklós Kozma
Update: The European Commission sent Amazon a statement of objections, setting out its competition concerns over the company’s proposed acquisition of iRobot, a supplier of robot vacuum cleaners. According to the Commission, Amazon could foreclose iRobot’s rivals after the transaction by preventing them from selling on its online marketplace or degrading their access to the marketplace. The Commission’s provisional deadline to decide on the case is 14 February 2024.