By Susan Ning and Hazel Yin

On June 15, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) approved the acquisition of Goodrich Corporation (“Goodrich”) by United Technologies Corporation (“UTC”) subject to the divestment of the electronic systems business of Goodrich.  Both companies are headquartered in the United States and active in the production and sale of aviation equipment.  This marks the fourth conditional clearance issued by MOFCOM in the first half of 2012 and the only case where the core remedies are structural.

 Review Process.  MOFCOM received the notification on December 12, 2011 and officially accepted it on February 6, 2012.  A Phase 2 investigation was opened on March 2 and extended on May 31, which was set to expire on July 30. 
Continue Reading MOFCOM Approves UTC’s Acquisition of Goodrich with Divestiture Requirement

By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Hazel Yin

On February 9, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") published its first conditional clearance decision in 2012, approving the proposed joint venture ("JV") established by Henkel Hong Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Henkel HK") and Tiande Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. ("Tiande") ("Transaction").  This is the second conditional clearance decision in relation to a joint venture and reaffirms MOFCOM’s approach that formation of a joint venture does constitute a notifiable transaction under the Anti-monopoly Law ("AML"). 1

Review Process.  MOFCOM received the notification on 8 August 2011 and  officially accepted it on 26 September 2011.  The case entered into Phase II on 25 October 2011 and the parties submitted the proposed remedies on 13 January 2012, shortly before MOFCOM decided to extend the Phase II period for another 60 days on 19 January 2012. On 9 February 2012, MOFCOM made the final decision to approve the Transaction with conditions.Continue Reading MOFCOM Issued the Second Conditional Clearance on Joint Venture

By  Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Yin Ranran

On December 12th, 2011, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") conditionally approved the acquisition of the hard disk drive ("HDD") business of the Korean Samsung Electronics ("Samsung") by the US Seagate Technology ("Seagate")1. This is the 4th conditional approval of this year and the 10th conditional approval by MOFCOM since China’s Anti-Monopoly Law ("AML") entered into effect in 2008.

According to MOFCOM’s announcement, this review process lasted for almost 7 months starting from May 19th when the notification was first submitted to MOFCOM. The review process entered into the Extended Phase II and was cleared on the next business day of the expiry date of this phase.2  
 Continue Reading With Conditions, MOFCOM Clears Seagate/Samsung Deal

By Susan Ning, Ji Kailun and Yin Ranran

Only 10 days after its conditional clearance of the Alpha V/Savio deal1, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published, on 10 November 2011, the third conditional merger clearance of this year approving the proposed joint venture between General Electric (China) Ltd. (GE China) and China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co., Ltd. (CSCLC)2

This is the first conditional decision relating to a Chinese Stated-owned enterprise (SOE) and the number of MOFCOM’s conditional clearance decisions is lifted to nine in total.  According to MOFCOM’s announcement, the review process lasted for about 7 months starting from April 13 when the notification was first submitted to MOFCOM.

Continue Reading MOFCOM Imposed Conditions on SOEs – GE/Shenhua Deal

On 31 October 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) publicly announced the eighth conditional merger clearance since the enactment of the Anti-monopoly Law (AML) in 2008. According to its announcement, MOFCOM cleared the proposed acquisition by Alpha Private Equity Fund V (Alpha V) of Savio group (an Italia based textile machinery producer, Savio) with four conditions. This is also the second conditional merger clearance this year.
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Continue Reading MOFCOM’s 8th Conditional Clearance – Alpha V/Savio Deal

By Susan Ning and Liu Jia

On 31 October 2011, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) publicly announced the eighth conditional merger clearance since the enactment of the Anti-monopoly Law (AML) in 2008.  According to its announcement1 , the review process lasted for 3.5 months starting from 14 July 2011 when the notification was submitted to MOFCOM. 

Set forth below is a chart outlining the review process.Continue Reading Alpha V/Savio Deal – A Procedural Overview of MOFCOM’s Decision-making Process