(Fore)closing the Gap: The Commission’s Draft Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines

Almost exactly 3 years after issuing its horizontal merger guidelines, the European Commission published draft guidelines on the assessment of non-horizontal mergers (i.e. vertical mergers and conglomerate mergers). As the draft guidelines acknowledge, by virtue of bringing together complementary rather than substitutable products, nonhorizontal mergers – whether vertical or conglomerate – give rise to substantial scope for cost and price efficiencies and are …