Senior mergers and acquisition lawyers and bankers believe the European Takeover Directive could once again be stalled or even abandoned due to a disagreement in Germany over how to legislate on hostile takeovers.

After the last minute sabotage in 2001 of the proposed European Takeover Directive, the German government introduced a new takeover law allowing companies to gain general approval to take action to defend themselves from hostile takeovers up to 18 months prior to any hostile approach.