The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a new Mergers Charter and launched a call for evidence on its approach to merger remedies, as part of its plans to enhance the UK’s merger control regime.

Mergers Charter

The new charter provides some helpful guidance, setting out what mergers and acquisitions (M&A) parties and their advisers should expect from the regulator as well as its expectations in return. This is clearly a two-way street and it will be interesting to see how this translates into changes in CMA practice in actual cases. 

Given the growth of onerous requests for internal documents over recent years, businesses will be particularly pleased to see the CMA committing to “targeted, efficient and proportionate information gathering, focused on information that is relevant and specific to potential areas of concern”.

The CMA expects parties to “provide information and evidence in a timely and complete manner, meeting requested deadlines” and to “streamline the provision of information and analysis, whilst ensuring comprehensive responses to relevant lines of inquiry”. Clearly there’s a link here and much will depend on the CMA’s ability to more quickly narrow down the issues and communicate this clearly to parties and advisers.

Merger remedies

The CMA’s call for evidence regarding its approach to merger remedies is also a welcome development. 

This review is something the CMA was already planning before the recent change in its Chair, although the new emphasis on doing more to support the government’s growth mission could prompt the CMA to pursue some bolder changes than it might otherwise have done. 

The parts on whether there might be ways for more complex remedies to be accepted at Phase 1, as well as the general approach to behavioural remedies, will be of particular interest to the market.

The call for evidence is open until 12 May.