Authored by Dr. Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com), Dr. Annie Ying Xue (xueying@anjielaw.com)

The Chinese merger review agency, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), has been active in releasing draft merger regulations for public comments and conditionally approving merger deals.

1.      MOFCOM Solicitation for Public Comment on the Interim Provisions on the Applicable Standards in Simple Cases of Concentrations of Undertakings (Consultation Draft)

On April 3, 2013, MOFCOM released the Interim Provisions on the Applicable Standards in Simple Cases of Concentrations of Undertakings (Consultation Draft) (Draft Standards) for public comment. The consultation period ended on May 2, 2013.

The Draft Standards is a follow-up action of an announcement of the policy initiative regarding simplified procedures for certain mergers by MOFCOM in 2012. It is noteworthy that the proposed rules merely deal with the definition of simple cases, and do not touch on procedural issues.

Continue Reading Briefing Note: Updates of Merger Policy Initiatives and Cases

Authored by Dr. Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com), Dr. Annie Ying Xue (xueying@anjielaw.com)

On April 22, 2013, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced its conditional approval of Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni)’s acquisition of Gavilon Holdings (Gavilon).

The acquiring company is a comprehensive trading company headquartered and listed in Japan. Marubeni engages in international trade spanning from food materials, food, raw materials, chemicals, energies, metals, mineral resources, to transportation machineries. Having 24 subsidiaries and branches with mature distribution channels and logistics storage facilities in China, Marubeni has been taking the lead in importing staple agricultural products into China in two consecutive years since 2011.

Headquartered in the U.S., the acquired company is a private staple commodity management firm that chiefly deals with grain, fertilizer, and energy products globally. Gavilon ranks third in North America in terms of procurement, storage and trading of grain and has one branch in China.

On May 29, 2012, the two companies entered into an equity interest purchase agreement, according to which Marubeni would acquire all equity interest of Gavilon through Gold Marble, a newly established wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of Marubeni.

Continue Reading MOFCOM Conditionally Approves Marubeni’s Acquisition of Gavilon

Authored by Dr. Zhan Hao (zhanhao@anjielaw.com), Dr. Song Ying (songying@anjielaw.com)

On 16 April 2013, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) posted the No. 20 Notice of 2013 on its website, finally giving green light to the Glencore/Xstrata deal, which is the largest merger in mining history.

The approval of review process has been waited for more than one year. The MOFCOM issued the approval with certain restrictive conditions on the deal in the end, following merger review agencies of other relevant jurisdictions, such as EU, South Africa and Australia.

According to the Notice, Glencore and Xstrata have horizontal overlaps and vertical relations in several relevant markets. In the comprehensive competition analysis, the competition concerns of MOFCOM’s were mainly focused on three relevant markets, including the copper, zinc and lead concentrate markets.

Continue Reading Last Hurdle Cleared: Glencore and Xstrata Get Approval from MOFCOM