What the Aon-WTW deal’s collapse says about US merger law; and a key appointment at Brazil’s CADE

MLex Market Insight

In the biggest merger regulatory challenge to hit the US under the Biden Administration, insurance broker Aon announced that it would walk away from its proposed union with Willis Towers Watson. The collapse of the deal amounted to a victory for the US Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland, with Aon concluding that the opposition to the deal was just too great to proceed. It was a victory predicated on a conventional interpretation of the law — the same old-school rules that had previously been disparaged by President Joe Biden. Also on the podcast this week: How the appointment of Alexandre Cordeiro to the Brazilian competition authority’s tribunal is likely to affect CADE’s operations in coming years.