Corporate M&A Review Cases Surpass 1,000... But Only 8 Review Staff Members

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] While companies urgently need mergers and acquisitions (M&A), concerns have been raised that the review period is gradually lengthening due to the fact that the competition authority responsible for over 1,000 annual merger reviews has only eight review personnel.

According to data submitted by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to Song Seok-jun, a member of the People Power Party, on the 10th, last year the FTC handled 139 merger cases per review staff member. Compared to overseas competition authorities such as the U.S. (10.5 cases), the EU (5.3 cases), and Japan (5.2 cases) per person annually, this is 26 times higher than the EU and Japan.

Last year, the number of merger reviews reached 1,113 cases, surpassing 1,000 for the first time ever, and the number of reviews has rapidly increased compared to 646 cases in 2016, but the FTC’s personnel responsible for mergers have not increased.

On the other hand, the U.S. has 172 merger review personnel, which is 21 times more than South Korea’s 8. Japan, with 297 annual merger reviews, has 57 review personnel, 7 times more than South Korea, and the EU, with 361 cases, has 68 review personnel, more than 8 times that of South Korea.

Given these circumstances, the merger review period is also on the rise. The average merger review period, excluding simplified reviews, was 35.8 days in 2018, increased to 45 days in 2021, and further rose to 47.2 days as of the end of June this year. The longest merger review case in the past five years was a 2020 M&A involving a company related to wires and cables, which took 574 days including the supplementation period.

Lawmaker Song Seok-jun stated, "Mergers of platform companies and other big tech firms are becoming more active, and the economic environment and corporate structures are becoming more complex," adding, "It is urgent to prepare measures such as revising reporting standards to expedite merger reviews in line with the changing market environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.