Regulators bare their teeth: is this the new normal for mergers?
News analysis: David Worsfold examines whether regulators are likely to take a tougher stance on insurance sector mergers in the future, following the collapse of the Aon/Willis Towers Watson deal.
Mergers collapse from time-to-time. Sometimes, the two parties look harder at each other and realise they do not fit. Occasionally, it is because the numbers in one of the businesses simply don’t add up once the closer scrutiny of due diligence kicks in.
Increasingly, it is because regulators and competition authorities block them. The proposed Willis Towers Watson and Aon merger that hit the buffers at the end of July is just the latest casualty of a savaging from regulators.
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