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Economic debate continues as to whether an acquisition, even if it lacks control or influence, may still have anticompetitive effects under certain circumstances. There are arguments that an acquiring company with non-controlling interests (also referred to as ‘minority interest’) may raise or decrease prices (unilateral effects), or that there may be cooperation (coordinated effects) between the acquiring and acquired companies.

Based on these “unilateral effects” and “coordinated effects,” European and U.S. courts and antitrust enforcement authorities prohibited certain minority acquisitions and acknowledged anticompetitive effects. In addition, in 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission published the “Horizontal Merger Guidelines” which addressed minority acquisitions and a detailed framework for determining whether or not a minority acquisition is anticompetitive. In July 2014, the European Commission also published a White Paper, “Towards More Effective EU Merger Control,” introducing regulations of notice filing for certain minority acquisitions.

In 2011, following the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines, the Korea Fair Trade Commission(“KFTC”) recognized the possibility of evaluating minority acquisitions and promoted the amendment of the guidelines for M&A Review in order to provide a detailed framework for evaluating minority acquisitions.

However, in order to avoid potential risks, a review of the 2014 amendment of the Guideline for M&A shall be revised. In fact, concluding certain minority acquisitions as anticompetitive does not conflict with existing antitrust regulations, and evaluating them does not put pressure on businesses because there are few examples of antitrust threats resulted from minority acquisitions.