Big M&As at the mercy of EU watchdog

Paris

IF TIME is money, big M&As are getting a lot costlier in the European Union thanks to a tactic increasingly deployed by the bloc's merger watchdogs in Brussels.

Bayer AG's bid for Monsanto Co is just one of a growing number of deals stalled by regulators stopping the clock more than once during strictly timetabled in-depth investigations to demand key information they say companies failed to supply on time.