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Government Investigations in Singapore 2025
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Global | Publication | August 2022
Last week, Mexico's antitrust agency, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE), formally announced that five economic agents have been fined due to their failure to obtain a premerger clearance prior to closing of a certain transaction.
In its public communication, COFECE noted that, while the involved economic agents did obtain a premerger clearance, COFECE ultimately imposed the fine because (i) the terms and conditions under which closing occurred deviated from those that the parties initially submitted for COFECE's approval, and (ii) the involved economic agents did not update COFECE on the revised terms and conditions for closing, nor did they sought any additional authorization in connection therewith.
While, according to public information, the deviation in the closing terms and conditions initially approved by COFECE seems to have been non-material, this was reason enough for COFECE to consider that a merger technically took place without the involved parties obtaining the necessary antitrust approval.
Mexican antitrust regulation provides a very comprehensive definition of "merger", which is why COFECE may rule that a merger technically occurred even when the involved parties may consider it to be an intermediate step part of a broader transaction. Mergers that exceed certain thresholds must be notified to (and obtain clearance from) COFECE before their completion, and the transaction may not close until the relevant authorization from COFECE is obtained. Thereafter, the parties to the transaction have to submit documentation evidencing closing.
The fine imposed by COFECE may be further challenged by the involved economic agents. As always, COFECE's penalties are in addition to and irrespective of criminal and/or civil liability that the involved parties may be subject to.
For more about COFECE's role and latest activities as independent constitutional agency in Mexico, please refer to our previous updates:
Publication
We have contributed the Singapore chapter of Getting the Deal Through, Government Investigations 2025.
Publication
The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Regulation, commonly referred to as the AI Act, is expected to come into force during the summer of 2024 (the AI Act). The AI Act will be the first comprehensive legal framework for the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI), and is intended to ensure that AI systems developed and used in the EU are safe, transparent, traceable, non-discriminatory and environmentally friendly.
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