Equity Markets, market efficiency and contestability of control in a trans-Atlantic perspective. The regulatory conundrum of the ownership structure in an internationally integrated financial market in the wake of directive 2004/25/EC on takeover bids

The article offers a comparative overview of some of the legal determinants affecting the cross-border market for corporate control in a trans-Atlantic perspective, in the wake of directive 2004/25/EC and its implementation by Member States as well as of recent decisions of both the European Court of Justice and the Commission concerning “golden shares” and other protectionist measures adopted by Member States to insulate national champions from the market for corporate control. The article questions whether national (final) ownership really meets the needs of the national community at large, thereby complying with a public interest test, or rather simply meets the quite different needs of local politics to exert an opaque and indirect control over strategic industries (following a “twist the arms” approach in respect to nationals controlling such industries).