In-Depth Merger Control: The Increasing ‘Politicisation’ of Merger Control and the Role of Government Affairs

The following is an excerpt from “The increasing ‘politicisation’ of merger control and the role of government affairs,” by Rachel Brandenburger, Benjamin Faull and Stefan Cirjan of APCO, published in Lexology’s In-Depth: Merger Control.

The current “politicisation” of merger control is generally perceived to be at an all-time high, at least in modern times. Yet, the relationship between politics and merger control is not new. The landmark prohibition by the European Commission (EC) of the proposed GE/Honeywell merger in 2001 and heavily conditioned approval of the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger in 1997 occurred in the face of extensive transatlantic “lobbying” by the US government, including a threatened tariff war. More recently, the EC prohibited the Siemens/Alstom train merger in 2019, despite strong support from the German and French governments to create a European champion to counter Chinese rivals.

These days, the “politicisation” of merger control is back in the spotlight, and businesses and their deal-making advisers are facing the most complex M&A environment of our lifetimes. Shifts in the geopolitical landscape are testing traditional alliances between the United States (US), the European Union (EU), China and other jurisdictions around the world. The tariffs the Trump administration announced against China, the EU and many other jurisdictions have increased the tensions and uncertainties.

Alongside this, governments around the world have adopted policies to drive growth in their home jurisdictions and increasingly look to their competition authorities as key implementers of those policies. Examples include the US’s “America First” policy, the EU’s “Competitiveness Compass” and the UK’s “Growth” policy – all adopted since changes in these jurisdictions’ governments in 2024/25.

The increasing “politicisation” of merger control requires parties to M&A transactions and their advisers to take a broad view of the landscape in which their transactions will be reviewed and to include a government affairs strategy upfront in their planning for the successful outcome for all but the most straightforward, no-issues transactions.

Read the full report here: In-Depth Merger Control: The Increasing ‘Politicisation’ of Merger Control and the Role of Government Affairs