When the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to take a stand against Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, ultimately preventing the deal from being completed in the UK, it didn’t take long for Microsoft to initiate legal proceedings to start a new process.
This new process is set to begin on July 28th, and if that’s the case, the CMA has insisted on delaying the proceedings until October. However, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in the UK has intervened, blocking the CMA’s attempt for a delayed hearing.
Specifically, the CAT states, “The case is important, and there is a substantial amount of material for any new counsel to digest, but we expect that a month should be sufficient time to allow that to happen—provided that the CMA selects counsel with the requisite availability to prepare, particularly given the support available from the CMA and from the existing counsel team. The question answers itself: this is a team that must have sufficient time to ensure that the CMA’s defense to the application is properly conducted.”
This means that regardless of whether the CMA has had the opportunity to prepare a solid case or not, the new process that will decide whether the UK approves or continues to block Microsoft’s mega-merger will commence at the end of next month.
