  Corporate Restructurings, Debt-for-Equity Swaps: Competition
Law Perspectives  Paolo Palmigiano, Josh Sherer, Jul 28, 2011
This article discusses the application and practical
implications of merger control rules to certain transactions not
traditionally seen as mergers; namely, the taking for a certain
period of time of an equity stake by a bank in a company that
faces financial difficulty, in return for a write-down of (some
of) the outstanding debt. This "debt-for-equity swap" is usually
part of a wider restructuring and refinancing.  The authors
suggest that such transactions rarely raise competition law
concerns and that the application of merger control rules (and,
in particular, obligations under the European regime as well as
others to suspend completion until a formal clearance has been
obtained) can be an unwanted and unnecessary additional hurdle
in what is already a stressful and complex deal. At a time when
restructurings are prevalent, we suggest that thought might be
given to possible change