Skadden’s head of European antitrust/competition, Ingrid Vandenborre, joined Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week” to discuss the European Commission’s draft revised merger guidelines, the most significant overhaul of the EU’s merger control framework in over 20 years.
Ms. Vandenborre described what the revised framework means for companies pursuing complex transactions: “The commission’s going to look at efficiencies in a much more robust way. They call it the theory of benefits in the guidelines. So, they’re not only looking at what will the harm be to the economy of a transaction potentially, but also what will the benefit be.”
Ingrid noted that the draft guidelines provide concrete frameworks for startups and investors: “We all know that that’s what startup companies need. When you invest, you need to know you have an exit route as well, and that’s really what the guidelines are trying to do.”
She added that the nearly 100-page framework may leave room for interpretation: “I would think initially, it may lend itself to a bit of discretion. … We’ll have to see how the commission will assess it in the first decisions to come under these guidelines.”
Watch the clip below: “Can Mergers Close Europe’s Tech Gap?” August 1, 2026.