Italy’s JV/Mergers & Acquisition laws get a makeover

0
Italy’s JV/Mergers & Acquisition laws get a makeover
Italy’s JV/Mergers & Acquisition laws get a makeover

With effect from August 29, 2017, Italy’s annual competition act for 2017 (“2017 Competition Act”) – which contains the requirements to notify the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) under the Italian antitrust law (Law no. 287/1990; “Antitrust Law”) – stands amended.

 

Old Vs New Law – a comparative study

 

Two basic changes have been effected to the 2017 Competition Act, and these are covered under Article 16 of the Antitrust Law:

 

The threshold for all the undertakings involved in a transaction was – a turnover of above €499 million. Now, it has been revised down to €492 million.

 

The second and the most relevant change effected is, earlier the individual turnover in Italy of the target was above €50 million. Now, it no longer restricts itself to the turnover of the target (in other words, the merged/acquired entity), but expands to the turnover of at least “two of the companies/undertakings involved”. Simply put, if a merger/acquisition or a joint venture happens in Italy and if the new/combined outfit makes more than €492 million in Italy, or, if the individual companies that did the exercise have an individual turnover of over €30 million, it becomes their duty to notify the concerned authority.

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here