The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it will raise the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act) jurisdictional and filing fee thresholds. Any transaction closing as of February 23, 2012 (or, if different, the effective date, which may be a few days after February 23, 2012) will be subject to the revised thresholds. The new rules include an increase in the “size of transaction” test from greater than $66 million to greater than $68.2 million—which means that under the new threshold, acquisitions valued for HSR Act purposes at $68.2 million or less will not require preclosing filing and approval.

As a general rule, the HSR Act requires both Acquiring and Acquired Persons (as defined in the HSR Act) to file notifications if the following post-adjustment jurisdictional thresholds are met...