Merger control in Iceland has a relatively brief history. Such provisions were first introduced in 1993 when Icelandic rules were aligned with European Economic Area competition rules. An English translation of the Competition Act can be found on the Competition Authority’s website at www.samkeppni.is. There is also a Merger Notification and Procedures Template in English on the website, but the English version has not been updated to reflect the amendments to the Competition Act in 2008 when the rules governing merger control were changed considerably.

Iceland is a small country and its economy reflects that. Markets are often oligopolistic, simply due to the fact that the small market economy cannot sustain more companies. This often has an impact on mergers and their assessment. For a number of years the Icelandic economy was fairly robust and share prices rose steadily on the Icelandic Stock Exchange. Financial activity, including mergers and acquisitions, was considerable and Icelandic undertakings had grown and expanded its activities abroad. In October 2008 the financial sector witnessed the collapse of three major Icelandic commercial banks and was followed by a dramatic financial and economic crisis. As a result of those events the nature of mergers and acquisitions has changed. Most of the recent merger cases involve a financial undertaking acquiring a controlling authority over a company due to restructuring or refinancing. The competition authorities’ view of such mergers will be discussed below.