CHINA: An introduction to Competition/Antitrust (International Firms)
Regulatory Trend of the Scrutiny of Inbound and Outbound Deals
Merger control in China
China raised the merger filing thresholds for the first time in January 2024. According to statistics of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the number of concluded merger cases dropped from 797 in 2023 to only 643 in 2024. Moreover, SAMR made significant progress in its pilot programme of merger review delegation and simplified the notification form for simple cases. These developments reflect the Chinese government’s determination to improve the efficiency of merger review and reduce the filing burden on businesses. Meanwhile, to enhance the quality and transparency of the merger filing procedure, SAMR issued the Guidelines on Horizontal Merger Review at the end of 2024 and is in the process of drafting the Guidelines on Non-horizontal Merger Review.
There are also significant developments in gun-jumping enforcement as SAMR published penalty decisions for the first time since the amended Anti-Monopoly Law (“Amended AML”) came into effect in 2022. As of January 2025, SAMR had released five gun-jumping penalty decisions, with fines significantly higher than those imposed in the pre-Amended AML era. However, these decisions indicate that certain factors can serve as mitigating circumstances, such as a first offence and the existence of an effective antitrust compliance mechanism. It is reported that SAMR is also expediting the drafting of the Benchmarks of Administrative Penalties on Illegal Implementation of Concentrations, aiming to further clarify the standards for fines and limit discretionary powers.
In December 2024, SAMR initiated an investigation into Nvidia’s alleged breach of merger remedies. SAMR conditionally approved Nvidia’s acquisition of Mellanox in 2020, requiring the merged entity to implement a range of behavioural remedies regarding critical semiconductor products. These remedies include commitments to supply the Chinese market under FRAND terms, maintaining interoperability and open-source commitments, refraining from tying, and measures to protect third-party information. The development of this investigation will have profound implications for the scrutiny of merger remedies as well as the review of future transactions in the semiconductor and other sensitive industries. Relevant companies may need to reassess the challenges posed by China’s merger review and post-closing compliance requirements.
Regulatory review in other jurisdictions and implications for Chinese enterprises
Merger control
In the EU, the Mission Letter from the Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen to the new Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera not only indicated that the antitrust review should give adequate weight to the European economy’s acute needs in respect of resilience, efficiency and innovation, and competition in strategic sectors, but also tends to be supportive of promoting the creation of “European champions”. The Mission Letter further directs the new Competition Commissioner to focus on the particular challenges facing small and medium-sized enterprises, notably to address risks of killer acquisitions from foreign companies seeking to eliminate them. It is foreseeable that improving the global competitiveness of European companies is becoming the new important policy trend of the EU merger control regime.
In the USA, merger control was a particular focus for the Biden administration, with a starting point of “big is bad”. However, the Trump administration is likely to take a different approach to evaluating mergers. We may not see the same scepticism towards M&A involving big players and we may see a retreat from some of the more novel theories of competitive harm that were put forth in recent merger challenges. On the other hand, as of 10 February, the new pre-merger Notification and Report Form has come into effect, containing changes that will significantly increase the burden and time required to prepare HSR filings.
There are also other key jurisdictions that recently promulgated or are promulgating reforms of the merger control regime. For example, the UK Parliament has enacted the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act effective from 1 January 2025. The legislation imposes a new mandatory filing requirement on “Strategic Market Status Firms” to report certain mergers to the CMA before they take place. Australia plans to implement a new antitrust filing system starting in 2026, replacing the long-standing voluntary informal review and merger approval process with a mandatory merger control mechanism. Egypt has shifted from a post-closing notification system to a pre-merger review with suspensory effect in 2024. The United Arab Emirates is also planning to significantly transform its merger control regime in 2025.
It is noteworthy that, against the background of a surge in investments in AI start-ups, more quasi-merger models have been identified, including achieving substantive control over the core value of target companies through business relationships, strategic partnerships, and “acqui-hiring”. These quasi-merger models have also attracted global regulatory attention. This trend may significantly expand the scope of traditional merger review.
Foreign investment review and EU foreign subsidies regulation
Development in FDI screening demonstrated a continuing trend towards greater protectionism and stricter enforcement, especially for those deals concerning China.
Chinese investment in US companies and assets remains the focus of CFIUS review. Moreover, on 28 October 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a final rule providing the regulations for the new “Outbound Investment Security Program”, which requires US persons to notify certain direct or indirect transactions with Chinese persons and entities in the PRC, Hong Kong, and Macau involving specified groups of sensitive technologies and products, and prohibits US persons from engaging, directly or indirectly, in other such transactions.
Of the total number of deals that were called in under the UK NSIA regime, China-linked deals accounted for approximately 42% during April 2023 to March 2024, and two-thirds of the China-linked deals that were called in were cleared unconditionally, with the rest abandoned (China-linked deals accounted for eight out of the ten deals that were abandoned after a call-in). That said, a higher proportion of notified China-linked deals were cleared unconditionally without a call-in (30-40%) during April 2023 to March 2024 than in the previous annual period (10-20%).
In the EU, we still see a number of cases where Chinese investments were terminated out of FDI screening concerns. For example, on 3 July 2024, the German federal government prohibited the sale of the gas turbine business of MAN Energy Solutions, a Volkswagen’s subsidiary German company to CSIC Longjiang GH Gas Turbine Co., Ltd., a Chinese SOE, out of concerns that the target’s technologies can be used for military purposes.
The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) was considered another regulatory hurdle that may lengthen deal timelines and increase deal uncertainty for many deals with a European nexus. The first year of the FSR witnessed a series of landmark cases: the Commission’s first conditional approval concerning a UAE investor (the acquisition by Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC of sole control of PPF Telecom Group B.V.), and the Commission’s first unconditional approval of a Chinese investment in phase I (the acquisition of Carrier’s Commercial Refrigeration business by Haier Smart Home). Notably, in 2024 the Commission also conducted dawn raids under the FSR regime for the first time.
Implications for Chinese outbound investment
In general, regulatory oversight of transactions involving Chinese companies in sensitive industries in Europe and the United States continues to tighten due to geopolitical reasons, and it remains to be seen how the reform of the merger control policy in these jurisdictions will affect Chinese investments. However, overemphasising the current political factors in these regulatory regimes is not conducive to accomplishing specific overseas investment schemes of Chinese enterprises. There are many projects that can still be resolved within the legal framework. Chinese companies are recommended to conduct risk assessments early in the process of overseas expansion, fully prepare for and actively engage with the regulatory authorities, closely monitor the relevant legislative and enforcement developments, and actively participate in legislative discussions.
境内外并购监管趋势
中国经营者集中审查
在2024年1月，中国首次提高了经营者集中申报的申报标准。根据国家市场监督管理总局（“总局”）的统计，2024年审结的经营者集中案件共643件，与2023年（797件）相比存在显著下滑。此外，总局在经营者集中审查试点委托工作取得了显著进展，并进一步对简易案件的申报材料要求进行了简化。这都反映了中国政府提高并购审查效率、有效降低企业申报成本的决心。另一方面，为提高经营者集中审查的质量和透明度，市场监管总局在2024年底出台了《横向经营者集中指引》，并正在酝酿出台《非横向经营者集中审查指引》。
2024年总局在抢跑执法方面也有重大进展：总局自2022年《反垄断法》修正案生效后首次公开了处罚案例。截至2025年1月，总局共公开了五起违法实施经营者集中行政处罚决定，且处罚金额较《反垄断法》修正案生效前的案件相比有显著提升。从这些行政处罚决定中也可以看出，当事人首次违法实施集中以及存在有效反垄断合规制度可被认为是从轻处罚的考量因素。据悉，总局也在加快制定《违法实施经营者集中行政处罚裁量权基准》，进一步明确处罚标准，规范自由裁量权。
2024年12月，总局对英伟达涉嫌涉嫌违反限制性条件立案调查。总局曾于2020年附条件批准英伟达收购迈络思，要求集中后实体履行一系列涉及关键半导体产品的行为性救济措施，包括按照公平、合理、无歧视原则保持供应中国市场、保持互操作性和开源承诺、不得强制搭售、第三方信息保护措施等。该调查的进展将对半导体行业以及其他敏感行业的限制性条件的监督实施以及未来的交易的审查带来深刻影响。相关企业可能需要重新评估中国经营者集中审查制度对于交易和投后合规的挑战。
境外并购监管及对中国企业的启示
反垄断审查
在欧盟，欧委会主席冯德莱恩给予新任欧委会竞争事务负责人的里韦拉的“使命函”中不仅强调了反垄断审查应重视欧洲经济对于韧性、效率与创新、以及战略领域竞争的紧迫需求，还倾向于支持打造“欧洲冠军”的理念。“使命函”还要求新任欧委会竞争事务负责人关注对欧洲中小企业的保护，防止其成为外国企业“掐尖收购”的牺牲品。可以预见的是，提高欧洲企业全球竞争力正在成为欧盟反垄断并购审查新的重要政策导向。
在美国，反垄断审查曾是拜登政府的一个特别关注点，其基础理念是“大即是坏”。然而，特朗普政府可能会采取不同的方式来评估并购交易。我们可能不会看到特朗普政府对涉及大型企业的并购交易持同样的怀疑态度，并且可能会看到对一些在最近的并购审查中提出的新颖竞争损害理论的退潮。另一方面，截至2月10日，新的事前反垄断申报表已生效，其对过去版本的修改将显著增加申报准备的负担和时间。
此外，还有一些重要司法辖区已经或正在进行并购审查制度的改革。例如，英国议会通过《数字市场、竞争与消费者法案》，该法案已于2025年1月1日生效。该法案引入了新的强制性申报要求，要求具有"战略市场地位"的企业在实施某些并购前向英国竞争与市场管理局申报。澳大利亚拟于2026年起实施全新的反垄断申报制度，以强制性并购审批机制取代长期以来的自愿非正式审查和并购申报程序。埃及已于2024年从事后申报制度转变为具有暂停交易效力的事前审查制度。阿联酋也计划于2025年对其并购控制制度进行重大改革。
值得注意的是，在市场对人工智能初创企业井喷式投资的背景下，更多的准并购模式被发掘，包括通过业务关系、战略合作以及“acqui-hiring”的方式，实现对目标公司核心价值的实质控制。这些准并购模式也已引起了全球监管的注意。该趋势可能将大大扩展传统并购审查的外延。
外商投资审查和欧盟外国政府补贴条例
外商投资审查依旧呈现出保护主义抬头和审查趋严的态势, 特别是对于与中国有关联的交易。
中国企业投资美国企业和资产的交易仍是美国外国投资委员会的审查重点，与此同时，美国财政部于2024年10月28日发布了有关“对外投资安全计划”的最终规则，要求美国人士向美国财政部申报其与中国大陆、香港特别行政区和澳门特别行政区的中国人士和实体进行的涉及特定敏感技术和产品的某些直接或间接交易，以及禁止美国人士直接或间接参与其他此类交易。
2023年4月至2024年3月期间，英国政府根据《国家安全与投资法》制度依职权主动调查的交易中，与中国相关的交易占比约42%，其中三分之二的中国相关交易被无条件批准，其余交易则被放弃（在遭调查后放弃的10起交易中，有8项与中国相关）。尽管如此，在上述报告期内，被无条件批准的交易方主动申报的交易中，中国相关交易比例（30-40%）高于上一期间（10-20%）。
在欧盟，因外商投资审查原因导致中国投资流产的例子仍然屡见不鲜。比如，2024年7月3日，德国政府禁止了中国国企中船重工龙江广瀚燃气轮机有限公司收购大众汽车子公司曼恩能源解决方案公司（MAN Energy Solutions）燃气轮机业务的拟议交易，原因是担心该目标公司的技术可能用于军事目的。
《欧盟反补贴条例》（FSR）被认为是使众多欧洲投资项目时间表延长、不确定性增加的监管阻碍。FSR实施的第一年内发生了多起标志性案件：欧委会首次附条件批准了一项阿联酋公司的收购交易（阿联酋电信集团公司取得PPF集团单独控制权），且首次在第一审查阶段无条件批准了一项中国企业的收购交易（海尔智家收购开利商用制冷业务）。值得注意的是，2024年欧委会还首次在FSR框架下运用突袭调查执法权。
对中国企业海外投资的启示
总体而言，欧美地区因地缘政治原因对涉及中国企业的敏感行业领域的交易监管呈持续收紧的趋势，而其反垄断审查政策的变化对中国投资的影响尚待观察。但片面强调当前并购监管制度的政治性因素不利于解决中国企业海外投资具体项目，不少具体项目还是能够在法律框架内解决。建议中国企业在海外布局的过程中尽早开展风险评估，充分准备和积极应对监管机构，密切关注相关立法和执法动态，积极参与相关立法商谈。