Merger control task force set to shape global regulations

GLOBALISATION: IBA seeks prime role in mergers

The IBA plans to plough cash into a new merger control task force to shape the regulatory environment for global mergers.

William Rowley, outgoing chairman of the IBA's business law section, revealed he now plans to take a leading role in the two-year project to move to a common process for international merger notification.

As chairman of the initiative, he said he aimed to 'get an appropriate working party under a dynamic leadership that we can count on'.

Mr Rowley, a partner at top Canadian firm McMillan Binch, said: 'I will also ask them to consider whether the IBA might reasonably be considered as a home for the global working party.

We are ideally placed because there is virtually no other international institution that can offer the apolitical integrity and background that we can.'

And, he added: 'We are prepared to divert some funding to it.'

It is understood that businesses and the American Bar Association (ABA) have also pledged cash.

But Mr Rowley said he also hopes to secure financial commitments from global law firms and the World Bank.

A global merger overseer could save international businesses billions, said the leading mergers and acquisitions lawyer.

Harmonisation would prevent lawyers from making money just 'filling in forms'.

He explained: 'A lot of money is being made doing that.

It's not how I make my money.'

But Mr Rowley added it is not just about saving clients money.

Delays in mergers prevent the benefits being passed to society: 'This is not a business-driven thing.

I am talking about a global welfare cost.'

Joel Klein, who resigned last week as head of the antitrust division at the US Department of Justice, is backing the multilateral move, which is also in line with EU policy.

Anne Mizzi