Last week, a federal judge in North Carolina declined to preliminarily enjoin Novant Health, Inc.’s (“Novant”) acquisition of two hospitals from Community Health Systems, Inc. (“CHS”). The FTC filed suit in federal court and...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) (collectively, the “Agencies”) published the long-awaited final 2023 Merger Guidelines. The 2023 Merger Guidelines are informed...more
12/29/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Request For Information ,
The Clayton Act ,
Transparency ,
Vertical Mergers
Since the beginning of Chair Khan’s tenure at the Federal Trade Commission (and in line with President Biden’s aim to curb rising health care costs), the current FTC has committed to bring enforcement actions against health...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”), and the new proposed merger guidelines have all called out private equity transactions for particular scrutiny. The FTC just...more
8/22/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Consent Order ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestment ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Section 8 ,
Settlement ,
The Clayton Act ,
Unfair Competition
On Monday, the FTC lost its bid to preliminarily enjoin Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the maker of the popular video game, “Call of Duty.” Based on a vertical foreclosure theory, this case marks the fourth loss for...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced Monday that it had reversed its in-house Administrative Law Judge’s (“ALJ”) Initial Decision dismissing a complaint brought by FTC staff against Illumina, Inc.’s acquisition of...more
4/6/2023
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Divestment ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Life Sciences ,
Merger Controls ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Section 7 ,
The Clayton Act ,
Vertical Mergers
As has been expected, on January 18, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced in a joint press conference an initiative to review and revise the...more
On February 18, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the divestiture order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in a private merger challenge brought by...more
On September 29, 2020, Judge Sarah Pitlyk, a 2019 Trump appointee to the Eastern District of Missouri, granted the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction barring two thermal coal producers, Arch...more
On October 22, 2018, the FTC announced it had reached a settlement with industrial gas suppliers Praxair, Inc. and Linde AG (the “Parties”) arising out of their proposed merger. According to the FTC’s Complaint, issued by 4-1...more
11/1/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Divestiture ,
Divestment ,
Energy Sector ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers ,
Oil & Gas ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Public Comment ,
The Clayton Act
The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a new initiative to terminate “legacy” antitrust judgments that “no longer protect competition.” In 1979, the DOJ adopted a general practice to include sunset provisions that...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 26, 2018, increased jurisdictional thresholds for premerger notification filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the HSR...more
1/29/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Reporting Requirements ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Voting Securities
While antitrust enforcement of hospital mergers is well-established, physician acquisitions have only recently and increasingly seen antitrust scrutiny. Last week, in a 69-page opinion, a federal district court granted the...more
After five years of growth through a series of acquisitions, the Washington State Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit to thwart and unwind the most recent expansion efforts of Franciscan Health System (“CHI Franciscan”)...more
9/13/2017
/ Acquisitions ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Attorney General ,
Consumer Protection Act ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Costs ,
Merger Controls ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sherman Act ,
State Antitrust Claims ,
The Clayton Act
In what has become rare of late, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) suffered a litigation loss in a merger case with a district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction to block the deal pending administrative litigation....more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) accepted on Tuesday from Reynolds American Inc. (“Reynolds”) and Lorillard Inc. (“Lorillard”), subject to final approval, a Consent Order settling the agency’s significant competitive...more
5/30/2015
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Consent Order ,
Divestiture ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Mergers ,
RJ Reynolds ,
Settlement Offer ,
The Clayton Act ,
Tobacco
In a much anticipated appellate health care antitrust decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a district court’s finding that a consummated hospital-physician group merger violated Section 7...more