Mergers and acquisitions

The European Union has blocked the large-scale merger of the London Stock Exchange with German Deutsche Boerse on the grounds of apprehensions about competition and Brexit.

"After the parties failed to propose the necessary measures for dealing with our apprehensions about competition, the EC decided to ban the merger," stated European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager.

British financial services group Standard Life has agreed to buy Aberdeen Asset Management for 3.8 billion to create one of the world's biggest fund managers, the pair said on March 6.

Greeks have been repeatedly forced to cut back on food consumption since the outbreak of the crisis, as last year's 4 percent drop in food retailing took the total decrease in market turnover from 2009 to 2016 to 18 percent, according to data compiled by Nielsen researchers.

The fabric of the economy, that is the enterprises that compose the Greek market, is in a slow but steady process of transformation. The number of companies in commerce and production is fast declining as shutdowns increase, but this process is not being accompanied by the streamlining that is expected from economic theory.

The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) chart of Greece in 2016 that PricewaterhouseCoopers presented on Wednesday showed that foreigners have been acquiring assets in Greece while Greeks have generally been selling.

The reason for the delay observed in the licensing of companies to manage nonperforming loans - whose applications have risen to 10, up from seven submitted by December - is the particularly demanding institutional framework. Out of the candidate companies, just one has received a license, with the other nine still pending.

Turkey's merger and acquisition volume plunged by over half to $7 billion amid security concerns and rising economic problems, according to a new report, which showed that many foreign direct investors have been steering clear of Turkey. 

The Merger and Acquisition Transactions Report by EY showed on Jan. 12 that Turkey's M&A volume has plummeted to its lowest level since 2009. 

Athens-listed Mytilineos Group is entering a new era, as it announced on Wednesday that it is conducting an absorption-type merger of all its main subsidiaries (METKA, Aluminium of Greece and Protergia).

Things have definitely changed in Greece but this is not necessarily something that the country's politicians and certain businesses have grasped. The game, as it were, has become much more complex and more global. Take a look at the banks, the mergers and the big company takeovers.

A total of 22  merger and acquisition deals to the amount of USD 600 M have been concluded in Bulgaria in the period January - June, 2016, exactly the same number as in the same period of 2015, showed a survey of international consultancy company Ernst & Young Global Limited.