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CMA boss Sarah Cardell has promised an era of more pragmatic regulation. City dealmakers are seeing signs of progressPhoto: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Top antitrust lawyers say the Competition and Markets Authority’s shift to support the government’s pro-growth agenda is driving an uptick in dealmaking, with a flurry of transactions now being approved that might have been blocked before.

In previous years, the CMA’s merger checks were seen as tough by many. Its decision to block Microsoft’s $69.7bn bid for games company Activision Blizzard in 2023 drew significant criticism and put it out of step with other watchdogs.