Extract from Isha Marathe’s article “China, India Step Up Antitrust Regulation, Throwing Tech Industry a Curve”
Ambitious M&As have played a big part in shaping Big Tech as it stands today. However, increasing regulatory scrutiny soon could play a hand in inhibiting the industry’s growth. To be sure, the last few months have seen increasing attention from global antitrust regulators looking to assert themselves more in multinational M&As.
In April, India imposed stricter regulations on corporations seeking to acquire companies in the country by implementing its own deal value threshold, or DVT, a move away from examining M&As based simply on asset size and turnover. India’s move follows in the footsteps of Germany, Austria and South Korea. Vietnam and Australia may soon also move to examine deals based on DVT.
Around the same time, China slackened its pace for greenlighting American tech acquisitions. The U.K. and the U.S. have also both seen their share of increasing antitrust scrutiny as well.
Attorneys in the space noted that tech multinationals rapid growth has pushed antitrust litigation to an unprecedented peak. Indeed, most antitrust regulators sit at a complicated juxtaposition: vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, like China, and eager to safeguard their own tech industries, like India.
Ultimately, for tech companies seeking to expand across jurisdictions, the road is only going to get bumpier.
