In the second quarter, federal and state antitrust enforcers continued their intense scrutiny of consolidation in the healthcare market by implementing new initiatives and laws designed to gather additional information...more
To date, 2024 has not yet seen the type of mega-merger (Pfizer/Seagen) or level of agency enforcement (Sanofi/Maze or Amgen/Horizon) as 2023. But two notable investigations — one still active — show the Federal Trade...more
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
As US Antitrust Agencies Double Down on Merger Enforcement Approach, New Deal Strategies Emerge The DOJ and FTC continue to pursue an aggressive merger enforcement agenda with new merger guidelines and filing requirements....more
It has been two years since President Biden signed a far-reaching, industry-spanning Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. The Executive Order outlined a “whole-of-government” approach to...more
Antitrust enforcers remained active across the globe, with the announcement by the FTC and DOJ of proposed guidelines that have an emphasis on tech mergers in the United States, and several investigations of major tech deals...more
The draft guidelines for applying US antitrust laws to merger investigations depart from prior guidance and seek to roll back decades of legal precedent on merger enforcement. Competitive effects analyses are out;...more
UNITED STATES - Wilson Resigns as FTC Commissioner - On February 14, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) lone Republican commissioner, Christine Wilson, announced that she was resigning. Wilson explained her decision...more
2022 saw a major uptick in antitrust scrutiny and enforcement, primarily related to vertical transactions by large technology companies. Meta/Within, Microsoft/Activision, and Broadcom/VMware (among others) faced resistance...more
Key Takeaways - The antitrust agencies have lost three litigated merger challenges in less than one month. The DOJ Antitrust Division lost challenges to UnitedHealth/Change and U.S. Sugar/Imperial Sugar while the FTC lost...more
In July 2022, the FTC brought an enforcement action to enjoin Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality app maker Within. The FTC’s approach in that complaint could have implications for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of...more
After a 2-year hiatus, health care transactional attorneys and related industry professionals descended upon Nashville, TN April 25th - 27th for the 2022 American Health Law Association (“AHLA”) Health Care Transactions...more
As part of their initiative to reevaluate both the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines (collectively, “Merger Guidelines”), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of...more
2021 M&A smashed U.S. and global records. The year saw the arrival of a new U.S. administration, the release of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as continued questions regarding the impact of the pandemic, including the year-end...more
On July 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced a broad executive order (the “Order”) intended to boost what it characterizes as stagnant competition across the U.S. economy. The Order, among other things, encourages the...more
The fact that a merger might be anticompetitive is not a reason to prohibit a transaction if all of the elements of the “failing firm defense” are met, as described below. In fact, the antitrust agencies have long recognized...more
On September 24, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) bid to enjoin Steris Corporation (Steris) from acquiring its alleged potential competitor, Synergy...more
This is the fifth in a six-part series discussing the Federal Trade Commission's challenges to provider mergers. Following the initial Introduction and Background (Part 1), the series discusses The Need for Early Legal Advice...more
This is the fourth in a six-part series discussing the Federal Trade Commission's challenges to provider mergers. Following the initial Introduction and Background (Part 1), the series discusses The Need for Early Legal...more