The Situation: On September 17, 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled her new proposed College of Commissioners and announced key European Union ("EU") policy priorities for the next five years....more
UNITED STATES - New Merger Guidelines Deployed - The 2023 Merger Guidelines are a non-binding statement that provides clarity on aspects of federal agencies’ deliberations and enforcement practices undertaken in...more
As Holland & Knight observed previously, the Biden Administration's antitrust enforcers have trained their sights on private equity firms and their portfolio companies, including in a Sept. 21, 2023, lawsuit challenging one...more
On February 26, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alongside Attorneys General from eight states and the District of Columbia, initiated legal action to block Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons. The...more
Our M&A team is honored to have represented clients in some of the most compelling transactions in 2023—from advising SoftBank on two acquisitions of public companies in the robotics space, to partnering with sustainable food...more
This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Noah Brumfield, partner based in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, is our editor this month. He has selected: ...more
On January 25, 2024 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block Novant Health (Novant) from acquiring two North Carolina hospitals, Lake Norman Regional Medical Center and Davis Regional Medical Center from Community...more
In the coming year, Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chair Lina Khan and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter are expected to continue to advance a more aggressive...more
On December 18, 2023, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (Agencies) issued the 2023 Merger Guidelines, which replace the Agencies’ 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines and the 2020 Vertical Merger...more
On December 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly announced the issuance of the final version of new Merger Guidelines, after publishing a draft in July 2023. We previously...more
As a capstone on the Biden administration’s aggressive 2023 antitrust enforcement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly issued revised Merger Guidelines before the holidays, replacing the...more
The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department jointly issued the 2023 Merger Guidelines on December 18, 2023, which describe the factors and frameworks the agencies will utilize when reviewing mergers and...more
What You Need to Know- •The final 2023 Merger Guidelines are structured around 11 guidelines outlining the Agencies’ approach to merger enforcement. •Together with the massive changes to the HSR form proposed in June...more
On December 18, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the final version of new merger review guidelines (Merger Guidelines), five months after the agencies published a draft for...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and Department of Justice (“DOJ”) jointly released their long-anticipated final 2023 Merger Guidelines after a notice and public comment period, during which they...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (together, the “agencies”) jointly released their final revised 2023 Merger Guidelines, reflecting modest adjustments...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released the final 2023 Merger Guidelines (the Guidelines). While the final version of the Guidelines reflects...more
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) issued their updated Merger Guidelines on December 18, 2023. These guidelines represent a significantly more...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) released final revisions to the Merger Guidelines (the “2023 Merger Guidelines”) that frame the agencies’...more
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice (the “Agencies”) jointly issued Final Merger Guidelines, following a public comment period on the Proposed Merger Guidelines first issued in July....more
The year in antitrust began apace on January 5 with the release of the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule banning all employer-employee noncompete agreements. At mid-year, the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the...more
Amidst a wave of challenges to mergers on novel theories of harm, proposals to revamp both the HSR Filing rules and the Merger Guidelines used for assessing the competitive impact of mergers, and taking steps to enlarge the...more
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has focused on the potential harm that loyalty discounts and bundled prices could cause to competitors and their access to customers. A vendor offers a bundled discount when it...more
In July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a draft of proposed new merger guidelines, 18 months after FTC Chair Lina Khan and Assistant Attorney General...more
Short sellers make their money by publishing information that attacks a company in order to drive down its share price. How can a company prepare? And what should it not do in the face of a short attack? We offer some tips in...more