Recent Enforcement Decisions Involving Technology Mergers and Acquisitions at MOFCOM

This article is part of a Chronicle. See more from this Chronicle

Daniel Kane, Scott Sher, Oct 29, 2014

MOFCOM has reviewed a number of high-profile technology transactions since 2008, and in many cases it has conditioned approval of these deals on the parties agreeing to a remedy. That the agency has proceeded in this manner is not surprising—in all of the deals discussed below, there was a substantial regulatory review by other global competition agencies including, in most cases, the United States Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission. Like its counterparts in Europe and the United States, MOFCOM often has required parties to commit to structural relief (i.e., divestiture) in order to clear potentially problematic deals. Unlike these counterparts, however, MOFCOM has also imposed a number of other conditions on merging parties that have rarely—if ever—been sought by other authorities.