Anti-monopoly ministry tells Panasonic to divest overseas assets
November 09, 2009 | BY
clpstaff &clp articlesLengthy decision period points to regulator's rigour
China's merger-control regulator has announced the conditional approval of Panasonic's acquisition of Sanyo but has imposed tough conditions including, for the first time, divestment of assets outside of China.
The decision is the fifth conditional approval announced by the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) since the implementation of the PRC Anti-monopoly Law (AML) on August 1 2008. In order to proceed with the acquisition, Mofcom has told Panasonic to make significant divestments of large parts of its own and Sanyo's businesses in Japan and China, but specialists have played down the significance of this part of the decision.
“It is hardly surprising that divestitures are ordered in view of the market shares cited by Mofcom,” said Marc Waha, a Norton Rose partner and member of the firm's competition team.
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