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DAMITT Q2 2024: Abandonments Dominate the Podium in Merger Enforcement

The U.S. agencies concluded 11 significant merger investigations in the first half of 2024—just one shy of the total concluded in all of 2023. Activity has picked up considerably since last year but is still below the...more

DAMITT Q1 2024: Merger Enforcement Begins 2024 with a Bang

The U.S. agencies announced the conclusion of six significant merger investigations in Q1 2024, double the number seen last quarter. This marks the end of six quarters of three or fewer significant investigations. In line...more

DAMITT 2023 Annual Report: Minding the Gap in Merger Enforcement

Only 12 significant merger investigations concluded in 2023—a drop of 40 percent from just last year and by far the lowest in DAMITT history. This observed and verifiable drop sharply contrasts with recent reports that...more

U.S. Antitrust Agencies Finalize New Merger Guidelines Intended to Reinvigorate Merger Enforcement

The Merger Guidelines lower the market concentration threshold for the presumption that a merger is illegal. Deals that place combined market shares above 30 percent with a significant increase in concentration are...more

DAMITT Q3 2023: Merger Control Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

United States - All significant U.S. merger investigations concluded in either a complaint or an abandoned transaction. Four of the last five quarters have now concluded without any consent agreements, demonstrating the...more

Dechert Provides Comments to the U.S. Antitrust Agencies on Proposed Changes to Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Filings

Dechert’s antitrust group submitted comments today to U.S. antitrust agencies on their proposed top-to-bottom overhaul of premerger antitrust filings made under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. The Federal Trade Commission...more

DAMITT Q2 2023: When Avoiding Settlements, Does Merger Enforcement Settle for Less?

All significant U.S. merger investigations concluded in either a complaint or an abandoned transaction. Three of four quarters over the last year have now concluded without any consent agreements, demonstrating the agencies’...more

U.S. Antitrust Agencies Launch Long-Awaited Guidelines to Bolster Merger Enforcement

On July 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, the agencies) issued their long-awaited draft Merger Guidelines.  The draft Merger Guidelines, once finalized, will...more

New Notice Requirement for Healthcare Transactions in New York

Last month, New York State passed an amendment to the New York Public Health Law (the “NYPHL”) to require certain “health care entities” that are party to “material transactions,” including mergers and other change-of-control...more

DAMITT 2022 Annual Report: Timing and Remedy Risks Grow for Transactions Hit with Significant Investigations

Sixty percent of significant investigations concluded with a complaint or abandoned transaction in 2022. This shatters last year’s record of 37 percent. The 10 complaints filed in 2022 are also a DAMITT record. Those are...more

DAMITT Q3 2022: Merger Enforcement Remains Aggressive Despite U.S. Court Losses

Key Facts - United States - • Only three significant merger investigations concluded in Q3 2022. All three investigations ended with a complaint or an abandoned transaction. For the first time in more than a decade,...more

Boiling Points: An introduction on hot antitrust merger documents

The Boiling Points collection features real-world documents that government antitrust agencies used against merging companies. Dechert’s antitrust/competition practice curated the collection from an exhaustive review of...more

DAMITT Q2 2022: Is Merger Enforcement Taking a Conservative Turn?

In both our DAMITT 2021 Report and our Q1 2022 Report, we warned that parties to transactions subject to significant merger investigations were more likely to see the FTC or DOJ sue to block their deal or push them to abandon...more

FTC use of hot documents in hospital merger challenges

The government had lost seven consecutive hospital merger litigations before the FTC’s challenge to the Evanston Northwestern/Highland Park merger in 2003. That losing streak forced the FTC to reassess the economic tests used...more

DAMITT Q1 2022: Significant Merger Investigations Face Steeper Hurdles to Settlement

In the U.S., “significant” merger investigations include Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act reportable transactions for which the result of the investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or the Antitrust Division of the...more

DAMITT 2021 Report: Merger Investigation Activity Sinks More Deals

The number of significant U.S. merger investigations concluded in the first year of the Biden administration was in line with the average observed during the Trump administration....more

DAMITT Q3 2021: Where’s the Wave? No Uptick Yet in Significant Merger Enforcement Activity

Key Facts - United States - Dechert has yet to see an increase in concluded significant U.S. merger investigations despite a surge in merger filings that began in the fall of 2020. Instead, we continue to see a decrease in...more

DAMITT Q2 2021: Move Over Big Tech – Traditional Industries See More Merger Investigation Activity

Key facts - United States - Despite Big Tech headlines, the percentage of significant U.S. merger investigations involving technology companies was below the average for the last decade. By contrast, merger investigations in...more

FTC Pharma Merger Enforcement is Robust But Needs Greater Clarity and Consistency

Key takeaways - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and antitrust agencies in North America and Europe have launched a Task Force to evaluate their current approach to pharmaceutical mergers reviews. The Task Force has sought...more

DAMITT Q1 2021: Vertical Merger Challenges and New EU Referral Process Signal Transitions in U.S. and EU Investigations

DAMITT has observed an across-the-board increase in the average duration of significant EU Merger investigations: Phase I remedy cases resolved in Q1 2021 averaged 10.5 months; while Phase II investigations averaged 17.3...more

The FTC in a Biden Administration Could Remain Republican Controlled for More Than 2 Years

Key Takeaways: - FTC commissioners have seven year terms and cannot be removed for political or policy reasons. - Absent a resignation, Republican commissioners will retain control of the FTC until 2023. - Companies should...more

How the Defense in Evonik/PeroxyChem and T-Mobile/Sprint Successfully Litigated the Fix

In 2020, the defense side ended a 15-year drought in litigating the fix. When the U.S. antitrust authorities seek to block a proposed merger, they must obtain an injunction in federal court. One strategy the defense can...more

Lessons Learned from Sabre/Farelogix and Evonik/PeroxyChem

On April 8, 2020, Judge Leonard Stark of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied an injunction requested by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to block Sabre Corp.’s $360...more

Big (But Not Bad) Data and Merger Efficiencies

“Big data” has become one of the hottest subjects for antitrust enforcers around the globe. There is concern that large tech companies are amassing vast amounts of data and will use that data to entrench their dominant...more

US Court of Appeals Overturns LIBOR Convictions Based on Derivative Use of Compelled Testimony Lawfully Obtained in UK

In a decision with significant implications for cross-border criminal and regulatory investigations in both the UK and U.S., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently overturned two convictions for...more

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