On the 10th, SAMR held its first public hearing under China's merger-control
review process to examine Meituan's acquisition of equity in Maiyatian. SAMR
Antitrust Second Bureau deputy director Xie Fang said the deal — the first in
the platform sector that was required to be filed despite not meeting State
Council thresholds — may have exclusionary or competition-restricting effects in
the domestic delivery-aggregation platform market, could limit small merchants'
ability to choose delivery capacity and squeeze third-party carriers, and would
further strengthen Meituan's market power in China's food-delivery and
instant-retail platforms, potentially raising entry barriers. SAMR notified the
filer of these concerns and the applicant has submitted conditional commitments.
