Commission argues for cross-border mergers

The European Commission is trying to clear legal logjams preventing companies with share capital from different EU member states from merging. Such transactions are illegal in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. However, under a new proposed company merger directive, they would be allowed across the EU and would involve companies following the merger rules that would apply if they were merging with a company from their own country. First revealed on www.thelawyer.com 4 December