Crown Jewel Obligation and its Defense on Sustaining Competitive Equilibrium

The paper deals with the practical aspects of the use of crown jewel obligations and the crown jewel defense in ongoing mergers and acquisitions, with the aim of maintaining equilibrium and a healthy competitive environment, protecting consumers, and preventing monopolistic practices or other types of anti-competitive behavior.

It explains that a crown jewel encompasses the most strategically important and valuable assets of an economic entity—assets that play a crucial role in shaping market positioning and significantly impact the profitability of an incumbent firm’s business.

While the study devotes significant attention to European Commission and the USA mergers and acquisitions regulations and the role of crown jewel obligation in this transections, the practical steps of the targeted companies to curb and avoid hostile takeover is described. Article provides the European Commission decisions and U.S. Department of Justice rulings concerning major corporate mergers, particularly those involving crown jewel obligations and hostile takeover litigation.