Like the rhino in the animal kingdom, the EU merger control regime is a formidable force in the global merger control landscape. While it may, at times, appear slow-paced or brutish, it can be surprisingly swift to react when threatened and its instinct is to charge directly at whatever has spooked it.
Rhino is our digital platform for EU merger control analysis with statistics and commentary, updated quarterly.
Rhino’s four modules focus on intervention rates, review periods, complex cases, and remedies. The statistics demonstrate that the following themes are evident from deal review evolution in the EU over time:
- Intervention rates
- Phase II intervention rates show a sharp increase in withdrawals
- Phase I intervention rates stabilise
- Reviews periods
- Phase II review periods are generally longer
- Phase I prenotification duration on long-term upward trend
- Complex cases
- Phase I reviews include fewer normal procedure cases
- Predominant theory of harm has shifted, but 2025 shows return to horizontal concerns
- Remedies
- Tougher remedies, but 2025 shows decline in strictest remedy types
