Overview of General Environment for M&A in Germany

Surges of direct investment from a particular country into Europe are nothing new. Each time an FDI “invasion” has occurred, it has caused unrest both at a governmental level, due to concerns about the loss of national sovereignty, and at the local level among companies concerned about the competitive threat by the supposed interlopers. In the 1960s–1970s, it was mainly US investors that settled in the newly created customs union of the European Economic Community (EEC). With their superior technological and organizational skills, US firms were once predicted to sweep out domestic companies. The initial opposition to the US investors lessened after, as local firms often managed to absorb technology and know-how from their US competitors and that the impact on employment and research activities was mostly positive.