Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of joint control over One Tap Buy by the Softbank Group and the Mizuho Financial Group

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control over One Tap BUY Co., Ltd. (“OTB”) by SoftBank Corp. and Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. (“Mizuho”), all three of Japan. OTB, which is currently solely controlled by SoftBank, provides a mobile trading brokerage application that allows investors residing in Japan to trade securities on the go. SoftBank is involved in advanced telecommunications, internet services, Internet of Things, robotics and clean energy technology providers. Mizuho offers financial and strategic services, including banking, securities, trust and asset management, credit card, private banking and venture capital. The Commission concluded that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns given that the JV has noactual or foreseen activities within the European Economic Area. 

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