The Situation: To address a perceived enforcement gap, the European Commission ("EC") has issued guidelines expanding the types of non-reportable transactions subject to its "upward referral mechanism," which permits EU...more
Canadian businesses may soon face tougher standards in merger review if amendments being considered by the government to include “structural presumptions” and more onerous remedy standards in merger reviews are passed into...more
As we previously reported, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to issue a final rule (the “Rule”) that would prevent most employers from enforcing noncompete agreements against workers, with only limited exceptions for...more
Last week on April 23, 2024, the FTC adopted a final rule that would effectively ban non-compete agreements in the context of employment relationships when the rule becomes effective on September 4, 2024, absent a stay or...more
There are five crucial areas of focus that will impact mergers, acquisitions and corporate governance going forward: New Hart Scott Rodino (HSR) rules are expected in weeks, not months....more
Last week, a Mayer Brown team joined over 4,000 lawyers from around the globe—including top enforcers from the US Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and the European Union (“EU”)—to discuss new...more
In this article from The Threshold, the authors recap a panel on theories of labor harm in mergers, sponsored by the Mergers and Acquisitions Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law....more
Private equity is squarely in the cross hairs of regulators; the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced the launch of a...more
In fiscal year 2022, merger transactions and second requests decreased from the prior year....more
The European Commission’s (“Commission”) substantially revised Market Definition Notice (“Revised Notice”) will make it significantly easier for it to allege that mergers and other transactions (“mergers”) are likely to...more
The Canadian government has increased the monetary thresholds to determine whether a net benefit review of a foreign investment in Canada is required under the Investment Canada Act for 2024. All acquisitions of control of...more
China doubled its merger notification thresholds effective on January 26, 2024. China's State Council recently published new merger control notification thresholds doubling the previous China revenue thresholds in an...more
Given the Canadian government’s increasing scrutiny over M&A activity in the food, transportation and critical infrastructure sectors, Canadian businesses operating in these sectors should plan accordingly and remain prepared...more
1 Relevant Authorities and Legislation - 1.1 Who is/are the relevant merger authority(ies)? If relevant, please include details of: (i) independence from government; (ii) who the senior decision-makers are (e.g. Chair,...more
The accounting industry is in a state of transition. The influx of private equity, labor shortages, and remote/hybrid work have all impacted accounting firms to varying degrees. To better understand the landscape of the...more
The Federal Court of Appeal’s recent decision upholding the Commissioner of Competition’s largely successful challenge of Secure Energy Services Inc.’s acquisition of Tervita Corporation provides further evidence that the...more
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced sweeping changes to how they review deals. The agencies published new “Merger Guidelines” that identify the competition...more
Proposing a radically different conception of government enforcement merger guidelines, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), on July 19, 2023, jointly issued draft merger guidelines...more
In remarks before the Brookings Institution on June 20, 2023, Assistant United States Attorney General (AAG) Jonathan Kanter provided detailed insights into the work by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division to...more
The Hart Scott Rodino Act (HSR Act) is a federal law that requires companies planning to merge or acquire certain assets or voting securities to notify the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ)...more
Relevant Authorities and Legislation - 1.1 - Who is/are the relevant merger authority(ies)? The Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) is an independent, federal law enforcement agency responsible for the administration...more
A Q&A guide to merger control in Canada. This Q&A is part of the global guide to merger control. Areas covered include the regulatory framework, regulatory authorities, relevant triggering events and thresholds. Also...more
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
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
In a recent high-profile judgment, the EU’s General Court confirmed that the European Commission (“EC”) can, upon referral by a national competition authority in the European Economic Area (“EEA”), review deals that do not...more