The EU Commission reviews Chinese state-owned enterprise transactions triggering EU merger notifications

Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs) acquiring businesses or entering into joint ventures with other parties may unexpectedly trigger an EU merger filing. This was clarified by the European Commission’s decision clearing the UK joint venture between China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) and Électricité de France (EDF), which was published on 26 April 2016. [1] The important message for Chinese SOEs is as follows: in deciding whether the Commission has jurisdiction to review a transaction and in its competitive assessment, the Commission is likely to take into account not only the Chinese SOE directly involved in the transaction, but also the turnover and activities of other Chinese SOEs. This makes it easier for transactions involving Chinese SOEs to trigger the EU merger