The Global Competition Review recently announced the “GCR Awards 2021”. The “Merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with Peugeot S.A.” won the award of “Deal of the Year”. The merger control filing of the transaction was led by W88win优德中国有限公司’s team, CHEN, Ziruo (Audrey)andCHEN, Xiaohua (Sara).

• On December 17, 2019, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) and Peugeot S.A. (PSA) entered into a combination agreement, pursuant to which PSA was to merge with and into FCA. The merger of FCA with PSA is the largest automobile merger transaction in the century. The group forming after the merger will become the fourth largest automobile manufacturer in the world.

  
  

• On December 21, 2020, FCA and PSA obtained approval from the EU competition agency. On January 4, 2021 (UTC), both parties announced that, the proposals for the merger and the establishment of Stellantis were approved by the majority of votes at each party’s shareholder meeting.

• On January 16, 2021, the merger transaction between FCA and PSA was officially completed. A new automobile group, Stellantis, would form after the merger, and it would become the world's fourth-largest automaker by sales and the third-largest by revenue.

This transaction involved the merger of two major global automobile companies, and there were various horizontal overlaps and vertical relationships in the relevant markets, SAMR was concerned to the impacts of the transaction to Chinese market. The team of W88win优德中国有限公司 actively worked with SAMR, and closely coordinated with other competent government authorities and industry associations in seeking their opinions/comments, and finally assisted the client in obtaining unconditional approval of SAMR prior to other major competition agencies in other jurisdictions. The team’s expertise, efficiency and professionalism have been highly praised by the clients.

With its strong competition team, W88win优德中国有限公司 has worked many high profile cases in merger control filings, cartel investigations, anti-monopoly litigations, etc.

Since 2008, Audrey and Sara have worked with many cross borders transactions along with the merger control filing for many international/domestic companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Air France, Invista, Air China Cargo, Sinopharm, ChemChina, Chinalco, China Minmetals, Merchants Group, etc.; the team also worked on the first few leniency applications under cartel investigations re LCD, auto parts, ocean shipping in China, etc.

Audrey CHEN

Audrey Chen has extensive experience in industries such as energy and natural resources, automobiles, manufacturing, retails, pharmaceutical, education, media, agriculture, hi-tech, etc. She has advised clients to adopt creative structures, and negotiated legal documents in connection with these complex cross-border transactions involving multi-jurisdictions, etc. She has worked with clients’ competition filing clearance for their merger acquisitions in and out of China. Audrey has been recognized as a leading lawyer by The Legal 500, Asia Legal Business and The International Who‘s Who in Competition, Corporate Governance and M&A, etc.

CHEN, Xiaohua (Sara)

Sara Chen specializes in merger control law and corporate antitrust compliance matters, and assist various multinational companies in government antitrust investigations as well as antitrust filings for their offshore and onshore transactions in different business areas such as EMS, mining and minerals, steel manufacturing, automobiles and auto parts manufacturing, heavy duty machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, cargo and transportation, energies, power transmission and distribution, hard drive disks, internet and software product services, and insurance finance, etc.