The CMA’s Revised Merger Assessment Guidelines—Interesting Times and Creative Energy

Abstract

In 1966, Robert Kennedy remarked ‘like it or not we live in interesting times’ but noting positively that such times are ‘more open to creative energy’.1 We are a few decades on, but the sentiment will feel familiar to lawyers and economists navigating the CMA’s new approach to merger control. However, it will be little consolation to companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions who face the prospects of increased uncertainty and prolonged reviews. As the CMA seeks to adapt to the challenges of the digital economy and respond to the calls to be tougher on mergers, the Merger Assessment Guidelines (‘MAGs’) set out the way that the CMA intends to put these aspirations into action.2 The CMA recently published an update to the MAGs for the first time in over a decade. This seeks to respond to new developments, such as the rise of the digital economy...