Regulators in Brazil heed the call for restraint on the Ball-Rexam Merger; Will the European Commission and the FTC follow suit?
Today, the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) released a research paper entitled, The Ball-Rexam Merger: The Case for a Competitive Can Market, co-authored by ICLE Executive Director Geoffrey A. Manne and Associate Director R. Ben Sperry.
Media sources this morning predicted that the EU would approve the deal subject to fine-tuning of the offered concessions. And yesterday the Brazilian competition commission, CADE, unanimously approved the merger, subject to very limited divestiture and contractual conditions, according to regulatory newswire MLex.
Last week, ICLE scholars Geoffrey Manne, Donald J. Boudreaux, and Paul H. Rubin sent a letter to the FTC urging the Commission to consider the dynamics of the marketplace in its review, and summarizing why the proposed merger was unlikely to raise anticompetitive concerns. This recommendation was based on an extensive, in-depth research project undertaken by ICLE to explore the beverage packaging industry in detail, applying law and economics methodologies to assess the competitive effects of the proposed merger.
The resulting paper highlights the seven specific market dynamics that lead us to the conclusion that the proposed merger is unlikely to have anticompetitive effects, and that any competitive concerns that do arise can be readily addressed by a few targeted divestitures.
Read our complete assessment of the merger’s effect here.
Selected merger analysis by ICLE scholars:
- Let The Music Play: Critics Of Universal-EMI Merger Are Singing Off-Key, Forbes, by Geoffrey Manne
- Will the 2010 Merger Guidelines Survive the DOJ’s Complaint in U.S. v. AT&T?, CPI Antitrust Chronicle, by Geoffrey Manne and Joshua Wright
- Brief for Professors and Scholars of Law & Economics and ICLE in Support of Defendants-Appellants Urging Rehearing En Banc, FTC v. St. Luke’s (9th Cir. Apr. 6, 2015)
- The FCC distorted market realities to scuttle the Comcast-TWC merger, Truth on the Market, by Geoffrey Manne
- Comments of International Center for Law & Economics, In the Matter of Applications of Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, Inc. For Consent to Assign or Transfer Control of Licenses and Authorizations, MB Docket No. 14-57
- Beneficence Is Beside the Point: The Antitrust Realities of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger, CPI Antitrust Chronicle, by Geoffrey Manne
- The competitive implications of the Affordable Care Act for health insurance merger review, Truth on the Market, by Ben Sperry and Geoffrey Manne