Investors and corporate executives frustrated with the rulings of Mario “Just say no” Monti got some unexpectedly good news last month when the European Commission’s competition czar appointed a new right-hand man. His choice as director-general of competition, Philip Lowe, may be a career Eurocrat with 29 years of service at the commission, but the Oxford grad has won a reputation as a dedicated reformer. Lowe, who takes over September 1 from Alex Schaub, tells Institutional Investor that he already has plans for making the antitrust department more responsive.
Foremost, Lowe emphasizes that he wants to see a more open and balanced merger review process. He wants to instill more appreciation among commission analysts for companies’ economic rationales for mergers. And he is particularly concerned with streamlining the appeals process. “Merger parties have no redress in a relevant period of time,” Lowe says.
Antitrust lawyers from around the EC variously describe Lowe as sensible, business-savvy and pragmatic, as well as charming and smooth. The Briton, who follows a long line of Germans in the post, will run the competition department day-to-day, overseeing its administration and research while helping to frame its rulings.
“Personally, I am in favor of a serious fast-track approach to appeal -- within a period of weeks or at most months,” says Lowe. “The whole process would be shorter than anything you would do in the U.S.”
