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COVER STORY

Innovation via acquisition: opportunities and risks

While the strategic rationale may be compelling, success ultimately depends on execution – specifically, the ability to integrate capabilities while preserving the innovative characteristics that made the target attractive in the first place.

FEATURES

Expansive and strategic: scaling a business through M&A

Scaling through M&A is not a quick fix but a process shaped by preparation, patience and precision. It requires clarity on the type of growth being pursued, its strategic importance, and how it will be executed successfully.

UK merger control: growing uncertainty for dealmakers

The Competition and Markets Authority is adopting a more assertive approach to deal assessment, with heightened focus on competition concerns, consumer impact, innovation and strategic interests.

Under pressure: the race to meet EU AML rules

In May 2024, the European Union adopted a comprehensive AML/CFT reform package. Due to apply from July 2027, compliance with this landmark package represents a major undertaking, and one that many firms do not yet appear ready to meet.

Data leakage: navigating ‘shadow AI’ risks

Organisations should move beyond reactive controls and embed accountability at every level, aligning governance with real workflows and ensuring leadership sets a clear tone around responsible, transparent AI adoption.

Speak up, stand strong: making whistleblowing work in practice

Beyond reducing potential losses and regulatory penalties, effective speak-up frameworks strengthen stakeholder confidence, protect brand value and reinforce a culture of integrity.

ROUNDTABLE

Managing transactional risk

As risk areas become increasingly complex and exposure grows, dealmakers must identify and incorporate targeted due diligence procedures into the M&A process, while insurers focus on managing underwriting risk. FW moderates a discussion between Marc Sherman at Alvarez & Marsal, Brett Burgan at CohnReznick Advisory LLC, Timothy Grosso at Euclid Transactional, Garry Gordon at Great American Insurance Group, David Seno at HUB International Midwest Limited, and Hilary Weiss at Liberty Global Transaction Solutions.

SPECIAL REPORT

Competition & antitrust

Q&A: Algorithmic collusion: antitrust enforcement

All agencies are focused on the fact that technology cannot create a safe space for collusion and harmful price-fixing. FW discusses algorithmic collusion in antitrust enforcement with Nicole Kar, Lauren O’Brien, Katherine B. Forrest, Eyitayo St. Matthew-Daniel and Henrik Morch at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

Cartel hunt: how enforcers use whistleblowers and AI to detect conspiracies

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Enforcers are now turning to new tools to detect and investigate antitrust cartels to supplement leniency. Agencies are implementing or expanding programmes offering whistleblowers financial rewards for information on antitrust offences.

Competition regulation and enforcement trends in the EU’s digital economy

Gleiss Lutz Hootz Hirsch PartmbB To cope with the challenges digital markets pose with their accelerated dynamics, concentrative tendencies and threats of unwanted economic and potentially political power, the EU has built a comprehensive rulebook for digital markets.

Canada tests limits with increased use of production orders

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP As Canada’s Competition Bureau expands the extent and scope of its use of section 11 powers, businesses operating in Canada will increasingly have to grapple with the burdens that such orders impose.

What national security review can learn from merger control

Honeywell Aerospace The risk lies not in the existence of screening but in its direction: an expanding and indeterminate concept of security, applied through opaque and divergent procedures, that fragments the global market for investment and leaves dealmakers unable to plan.

Q&A: New frontier of merger control

Internal documents have to tell a procompetitive story long before any transaction is on the table. FW discusses the new frontier of merger control with Valeri Bozhikov at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher UK LLP and Logan Breed at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader.

BRIEFINGroom

CFIUS in 2026

Given the broad scope of transactions that might be of interest to CFIUS, it is essential to identify a transaction’s nexus to US national security, and to try to understand how the transaction might help or hinder the US government’s national security priorities. FW discusses CFIUS in 2026 with Steve Klemencic at BRG, Ben Joseloff at Davis Polk, and Katie Clarke at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

M&A in the oil & gas sector

Strait of Hormuz disruption risk and fractures within OPEC+ have reinforced expectations of higher for longer prices, which is precisely what is incentivising North American consolidation and infrastructure investment. FW discusses M&A in the oil & gas sector with Dan Feldman at King & Spalding and Frank Aquila at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.

DEALfront

mergers & acquisitions

Caesars Entertainment agrees $17.6bn sale to Fertitta Entertainment

Following months of negotiations, Caesars Entertainment, Inc. announced in May that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Fertitta Entertainment, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $17.6bn.

Publicis agrees $2.2bn acquisition of LiveRamp

In a deal designed to position the French advertising group as a leader in data co-creation, Publicis Groupe has agreed to acquire US data collaboration company LiveRamp in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.2bn.

private equity & venture capital

CVC and GBL lead €10.7bn bid to take Recordati private

A consortium led by private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert has launched a bid to take Italian drugmaker Recordati private in an offer valuing the company at €10.73bn.

Long Lake agrees $6.3bn take-private acquisition of Amex GBT

American Express Global Business Travel has agreed to be acquired by investment holding company Long Lake Management in a deal valued at approximately $6.3bn, marking a significant shift as the business travel platform prepares to return to private ownership.

bankruptcy & corporate restructuring

Trinseo files for Chapter 11 to cut $2bn debt under restructuring plan

Specialty materials and plastics manufacturer Trinseo International Holding LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a prepackaged restructuring support agreement with its lenders.

West Marine files for Chapter 11 as restructuring pressures mount

West Marine, the largest boating and marine supplies retailer in the US, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in May.

SPOTlight

Every company needs a stablecoin strategy

CMS Given their fast-growing role in finance and payments, stablecoins are likely to reach many companies before those companies have decided what they think about them.

Australia’s world-leading scams prevention framework is nearing implementation

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Once designation takes effect, in-scope entities then become subject to complying with a principles-based framework. This framework contains six principles around the themes of governance, prevention, detection, disruption, response and reporting of scams.

From generative AI to agents: why enterprise AI governance must evolve

GenScript The next phase of enterprise AI will not be defined by how many models are deployed or how many agents are created. It will be defined by whether organisations can govern those capabilities responsibly, transparently and sustainably.

The new corporate treasury playbook: managing FX risk amid trade fragmentation

Standard Chartered Successful treasury organisations are responding by moving beyond reactive hedging and building more sophisticated, data-driven capabilities that improve visibility across the business, strengthen forecasting and enable more agile decision making.

New frontiers for source taxation – an Australian perspective

Johnson Winter Slattery In an Australian context, given the significant scrutiny which multinational organisations face from Australian tax authorities, it is unclear whether tax transparency measures will significantly improve tax collections.

Governing AI in healthcare: from liability risk to strategic advantage

Novartis In an industry where AI is reshaping drug discovery, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance and patient engagement simultaneously, the ability to govern AI well is no longer a compliance requirement. It is a strategic differentiator.

CONTRIBUTORS

Alvarez & Marsal

BRG

CMS

CohnReznick Advisory LLC

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Davis Polk

Euclid Transactional

GenScript

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher UK LLP

Gleiss Lutz Hootz Hirsch PartmbB

Great American Insurance Group

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader

Honeywell Aerospace

HUB International Midwest Limited

Johnson Winter Slattery

King & Spalding

Liberty Global Transaction Solutions

Novartis

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Standard Chartered

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP