The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting concluded on April 12. The annual Spring Meeting featured updates from federal, state and international antitrust enforcers and extensive discussion...more
4/15/2024
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
FDIC ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Robinson-Patman Act ,
Settlement ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act
The American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section’s annual Spring Meeting is underway in Washington, DC. The annual Spring Meeting features updates from federal, state and international antitrust enforcers and extensive...more
4/12/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Buyers ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Mergers ,
Popular ,
Private Equity ,
Proposed Rules ,
Remedies ,
Section 8
On January 22, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced increased jurisdictional thresholds, increased filing fee thresholds and filing fee amounts for merger notifications made pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino...more
Mergers and acquisitions will continue to face strong headwinds at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) under new proposed Merger Guidelines released on July 19, 2023.
The Proposed...more
7/25/2023
/ Antitrust Division ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Horizontal Mergers ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Proposed Guidance ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
The Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division have released their revised Merger Guidelines. Which industries will be most affected? What should companies be doing now to avoid regulatory...more
The American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section held its annual Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, on March 29–31, 2023. The Spring Meeting sessions featured updates from federal, state, and international antitrust...more
4/6/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
CFIUS ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Section 8 ,
The Clayton Act
The American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section recently held its annual Spring Meeting in Washington, DC, featuring updates from federal, state, and international antitrust enforcers and in-depth commentary on leading...more
4/4/2023
/ Acquisitions ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Community to Purchase Act (COPA) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Healthcare ,
Hospitals ,
Joe Biden ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Robinson-Patman Act ,
Sherman Act ,
Spoliation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 23, 2023, the implementation of increased thresholds for merger notifications under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act) as well as...more
1/25/2023
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
Congress has passed—and President Biden is expected to sign into law today—the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which will significantly change antitrust merger notification regulations under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act...more
WHAT HAPPENED -
During a conference last week, Ryan Danks, Director of Civil Enforcement at the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ), suggested that merging parties—not the antitrust enforcement...more
UNIQUE GUN-JUMPING CASE SANCTIONED BY FRENCH COMPETITION AUTHORITY -
A new European gun-jumping decision, following the European Court of Justice 2022 Marine Harvest judgment, sends a very strong message to companies that...more
9/21/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Advertising ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dot Com Disclosure Guide ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
French Competition Authority ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Marketing ,
Mergers ,
Price-Fixing
WHAT HAPPENED -
• GPM Investments (GPM) acquired 60 gas stations from Corrigan Oil (Corrigan).
• As part of the acquisition agreement, Corrigan agreed not to compete for a period of time with the gas stations purchased...more
US antitrust enforcers have signaled that private equity firms are the prime targets for upcoming aggressive antitrust merger enforcement. In a recent interview, US Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter stated that the...more
In remarks delivered on January 18, 2022, and January 24, 2022, Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, laid out the areas where he perceives...more
3/15/2022
/ Antitrust Division ,
Bid Rigging ,
Competition ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Joe Biden ,
Mergers ,
Monopolization ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Sherman Act ,
The Clayton Act
Last week, the US Treasury Department (Treasury) released a report that outlined a series of reforms aimed at boosting competition in the combined $250 billion US beer, wine and spirits markets in response to US President Joe...more
2/17/2022
/ Acquisitions ,
Beer ,
Breweries ,
Category Management ,
Competition ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Distilleries ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Controls ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
TTB ,
Tying ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Webinars ,
Wine & Alcohol ,
Wineries
On February 9, 2022, the US Treasury Department (Treasury) released a report with recommendations for how the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) can help drive...more
2/16/2022
/ Alcohol Beverage Control ,
Beer ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Merger Reviews ,
Mergers ,
New Regulations ,
TTB ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Wine & Alcohol
On June 6, 2021, the US Senate passed the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act of 2021. The bill is co-sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the Chairwoman of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and...more
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday released decreased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR). The thresholds are indexed to changes in the gross national product (GNP). They...more
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, our 9th McDermott International Seminar Series will be held as a virtual series, with eight sessions taking place between January 21 – February 4, 2021. Though we cannot see you in person,...more
1/7/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Biden Administration ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FRAND ,
Global Market ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Data Transfers ,
Investors ,
Japan ,
Mergers ,
Patent Portfolios ,
US Trade Policies ,
Webinars ,
White Collar Crimes
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently extracted a $3.5 million civil penalty from two companies involved in a gas station merger. The FTC asserts the companies violated their settlement agreement with the government,...more
The US Federal Trade Commission today announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and for determining whether parties trigger the prohibition against interlocking directors...more
1/29/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
For the first time since the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) published non-horizontal merger guidelines in 1984, the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued updated Vertical Merger Guidelines to explain...more
1/15/2020
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Draft Guidance ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Information Sharing ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Public Comment ,
Supply Chain ,
Vertical Mergers
WHAT HAPPENED:
• On September 4, 2019, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) sued to block Novelis Inc.’s proposed $2.6 billion acquisition of Aleris Corporation.
• DOJ alleged that the transaction would...more
10/14/2019
/ ABS ,
Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrators ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Mergers
What Happened -
• DTE and Enbridge’s natural gas pipeline joint venture, Nexus, agreed to purchase the Generation Pipeline (Generation).
•Generation was owned by a group of sellers including North Coast Gas Transmission...more
What Happened:
• On May 7, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State signed House Bill 1607 into law. The law goes into effect for transactions closing after January 1, 2020, and requires advance notice to the...more
7/8/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Competition ,
Governor Inslee ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Health Care Providers ,
Hospitals ,
Mergers ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Attorneys General