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UK Regulator Clears All Mergers in 2025 After Shift Toward Pro-Business Stance

By  |  January 12, 2026

The UK’s competition watchdog approved every merger it reviewed last year, marking the first time since 2017 that no deals were blocked, according to data cited by the Financial Times. The development follows sustained pressure from the government to make the regulator more supportive of economic growth and business activity.

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    Per the Financial Times, the Competition and Markets Authority examined 36 mergers in 2025 and allowed all of them to proceed. The figures were compiled by US law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and shared with the newspaper. By comparison, the CMA stopped one transaction in 2024 and has blocked as many as four in some earlier years.

    The shift comes after a major leadership change at the regulator. According to the Financial Times, the government removed CMA chair Marcus Bokkerink in January 2025 amid concerns that tough antitrust enforcement was undermining its pro-growth agenda. He was replaced on an interim basis by Doug Gurr, the former head of Amazon UK, who remains in the role.

    Soon after Bokkerink’s departure, the CMA reversed course on a high-profile case, clearing the $570m acquisition of CWT by American Express Global Business Travel despite having previously opposed the deal, according to the Financial Times. The decision was seen as an early signal of a softer approach to merger control.

    The regulator has also adjusted how it conducts reviews. Per the Financial Times, the CMA has simplified its merger assessment process and reduced its scrutiny of global transactions where the UK market impact is considered limited, steps widely viewed as an effort to align with government priorities.

    Related: The Beginning of the End? The UK Government Announces a Review of the Country’s Antitrust Class Action Regime

    Interventions requiring remedies also declined. Six mergers were approved subject to conditions in 2025, down from seven in 2024 and 12 in 2023, even though a similar number of deals were reviewed across those years, according to data referenced by the Financial Times.

    Antonio Bavasso, head of European antitrust at Simpson Thacher and lead author of the report, said: “The UK government’s shift towards a pro-growth agenda had an immediate and unmistakable influence on the CMA’s merger control work in 2025.” He added: “We now have a full year of data to show how the government’s pressure on the CMA has played out and the data really confirms what we knew was going to happen — that a correction has taken place.”

    In its own response, the CMA emphasized that its decisions depend on deal flow and competition risks. “This data depends on the number of strategic M&A deals taking place which meet our threshold and whether those deals raise competition concerns,” the regulator said. “Every deal that is capable of being cleared, either unconditionally or with effective remedies, should be. But we will block anti-competitive deals where no effective remedy can be found.”

    Looking ahead, the government is considering further reforms. According to the Financial Times, ministers are exploring changes for 2026 that would replace the use of independent expert panels in merger reviews with a committee drawn from the CMA board. A public consultation on the proposal is expected in the coming weeks.

    The UK’s lighter regulatory stance mirrors broader global trends. Per the Financial Times, antitrust enforcement has become increasingly politicized in several jurisdictions. The Simpson Thacher report also found that merger settlements in the US rose sharply last year, while enforcement actions declined under President Donald Trump’s current administration, with 14 decisions recorded in 2025 compared with more than 20 a year in previous periods.

    Source: Financial Times