Google hopes to receive clearance by the European Commission (EC) for its proposed US$12.5bn takeover of Motorola Mobility next week.
The companies did not offer any commitments to the Brussels based regulator, it is understood. The last day to offer…
Google hopes to receive clearance by the European Commission (EC) for its proposed US$12.5bn takeover of Motorola Mobility next week.
The companies did not offer any commitments to the Brussels based regulator, it is understood. The last day to offer such remedies to address antitrust concerns during the ongoing phase I of the investigation expired yesterday.
The European Commission will announce the outcome of this part of the investigation by Monday next week the latest. Original deadline for the review had been 10 January, but this was pushed back to 13 February after the regulator stopped the clock and asked Google to provide additional information.
On 13 February the EC will have to decide whether to either clear the deal or to open an in-depth phase II investigation. While it is understood that Google hopes for clearance by deadline, a phase II would give the regulator another 90 working days to assess the proposed transaction in detail.
More than 90% of all merger investigations by the EC receive clearance at the end of the first phase, but in a substantial number of cases conditions are attached to the clearance decision. Only a small minority of transactions is taken to the second stage of merger control procedures.
Since no commitments were offered to the EC by deadline yesterday, the regulator is now left with two options only: To clear the transaction unconditionally or to take it straight to phase II.
