On August 5, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a rare[1] gun jumping[2] civil lawsuit and proposed settlement in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Legends...more
8/8/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Settlement ,
Sherman Act
Until relatively recently, private equity buyers were viewed as largely benign. Where antitrust regulators expressed concerns with private equity buyers, it was generally in the context of them being viewed as sub-optimal...more
On July 3, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”) in Ryan LLC v. Federal Trade Commission (“Ryan”) preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) from...more
7/12/2024
/ Appeals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Texas
The FTC revises the jurisdictional and filing fee thresholds annually based on the change in gross national product. The FTC also revises filing fees annually based on changes to the consumer price index under Division GG of...more
1/25/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (collectively, the Agencies) recently issued the Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2022 (the Report). Covering the...more
On December 22, 2023, the governor of New York State vetoed a state bill that sought to ban non-compete agreements for employees and other service providers.
The bill was passed by the New York State Legislature on June...more
The U.S. federal government is facing a possible shutdown beginning this Sunday, October 1, 2023. Congress has until September 30, which marks the end of the fiscal year, to enact appropriations for government agencies and...more
10/2/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
CFIUS ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Foreign Investment ,
Funding ,
Government Shutdown ,
Investment ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
U.S. Treasury
On September 21, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a groundbreaking complaint in federal court against PE fund Welsh Carson and its portfolio company, U.S. Anesthesia Partners (USAP), making good on its promise...more
9/26/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Business Litigation ,
Class Action ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Portfolio Companies ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Private Funds ,
Section 7 ,
Section 8 ,
The Clayton Act
The proposed rule would prohibit employers nationwide from restricting an employee from working at another company post-employment. As drafted, the rule would have retroactive effect and require employers to rescind any...more
1/16/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 includes significant changes affecting large M&A transactions and deals involving certain foreign entities. The Act would also give state attorneys general additional control over...more
Policy change expands the Agency’s oversight under Section 5 of the FTC Act and abandons the application of the “Rule of Reason.”...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires pre-merger notification of certain transactions to the FTC...more
Pandemic-induced lull in M&A activity drove down the number of reportable transactions by 21.6% in FY2020, though preliminary monthly figures for FY2021 have quickly climbed and surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
...more
On Wednesday, in a letter to U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, U.S. President Joe Biden urged the FTC to investigate potential anticompetitive conduct in the oil and gas industry....more
Throughout his campaign and since taking office, President Biden promised to increase and expand antitrust enforcement. After months of speculation about what form this promise would take, the direction of antitrust agenda,...more
The appointment of Lina Khan as Chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission is the latest in a series of developments – including investigations, legislative proposals for overhauls large and small, and reinvigorated...more
HSR filing thresholds decrease for the first time in over a decade – size-of-transaction threshold to be USD92.0 million -
For the first time since 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced decreases to the...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires pre-merger notification of certain transactions to the FTC...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division ("DOJ") recently issued their Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2017 (the "Report"). The key takeaways from the...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) recently issued their Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2016 (the “Report”). The key takeaways from the...more