On August 5, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it filed a civil complaint and proposed settlement with Legends Hospitality Parent Holdings LLC (“Legends”) for unlawful pre-merger coordination, commonly...more
On March 5, 2024, the White House announced the establishment of a new “Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing” (the “Strike Force”) stating that the Biden administration will hold accountable “corporations . . . when...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
1/25/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Filing Fees ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Section 8 ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
For companies in the energy and chemical sectors, the potential for antitrust scrutiny is an ever-present concern. The next round of enforcement inquiries is never further away than the next jump in commodity prices or the...more
1/15/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Collusion ,
Competition ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Divestiture ,
Energy Commissions ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Mergers ,
Oversight Committee ,
Private Equity
On December 18, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice (the “Agencies”) jointly released new Merger Guidelines (the “Guidelines”), setting forth the analytical framework the Agencies will use to...more
Participants in the renewable energy industry should be aware of antitrust and competition rules because renewable energy is no longer a nascent field. Europe generated almost 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in...more
11/13/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Bid Rigging ,
Boycotts ,
CFIUS ,
Competition ,
Corporate Financing Rule ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Filed-Rate Doctrine ,
FIRRMA ,
Green Energy ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Hedging ,
Institutional Investors ,
Interlocking Directorate ,
Investors ,
ISOs ,
Merger Controls ,
Price-Fixing ,
Renewable Energy ,
Restructuring
This checklist outlines antitrust considerations for the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology. Practices involving AI that could give rise to antitrust risk include algorithmic collusion, exclusionary practices...more
On June 27, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), with the concurrence of the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (together with the FTC, the “Agencies”), announced...more
The European Commission (the “EC”) recently adopted new guidelines that outline the antitrust assessment of agreements between competitors related to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) initiatives, including...more
On April 28, 2023, U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden issued the latest blow to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) efforts to criminally prosecute individuals who engage in “no-poach” agreements by granting the defendants’...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”), and Section 8 of the...more
2/10/2023
/ Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Pre-Merger Filing Requirements ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
The Clayton Act ,
Threshold Requirements
Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act (“HSR Act”) fees are changing, and the HSR process is also changing with the inclusion of new filing tiers, one less expensive tier, several much more expensive tiers, and new state-level and...more
On September 15, 2022, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) sued to block ASSA ABLOY AB’s (“ASSA ABLOY”) proposed $4.3 billion acquisition of the Hardware and Home Improvement division of Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc....more
In a pair of unanimous decisions, the Federal Trade Commission this week issued consent orders resolving challenges to two acquisitions. Both enforcement actions focus on top priorities of the Biden antitrust enforcers...more
The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) has announced that it intends to bring more cases against “interlocking directorates” that violate Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Such “interlocks” occur when competing...more
On March 9, 2022, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets that directs federal officials to consider the effects of “distributed ledger technology,” popularly known...more
The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (“HSR Act”). The new HSR Act...more
Antitrust activity increased significantly in 2021. This past year brought numerous changes in merger and non-merger enforcement policies and priorities that signal increased scrutiny in industry transactions. The “Biden...more
1/19/2022
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Antitrust Division ,
Big Tech ,
Chemicals ,
Competition ,
Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Joe Biden ,
Market Manipulation ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
No-Poaching ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Pipelines ,
Price Inflation ,
Procurement Collusion Strike Force ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Transparency ,
Vertical Mergers ,
Warning Letters
In late December 2021, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) settled charges in two separate matters for failure-to-file violations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, 15 U.S.C. § 18a (“HSR Act”)....more
On December 2, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it had filed an administrative complaint (the “Complaint”) to block Nvidia Corp.’s (“Nvidia”) $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip design provider Arm...more
Corporate acquirers accustomed to government inertia in antitrust reform are navigating a sea change in Washington, according to Craig Seebald, a Washington, D.C.-based Partner and leader in the global Antitrust Group at...more
9/8/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Anti-Competitive ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Monopolization ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Rulemaking Process
With Lina Kahn the new chair of the FTC and Jonathan Kanter poised to helm DOJ’s Antitrust Division, are big changes afoot in antitrust enforcement? What role is fellow big tech critic and competition progressive Tim Wu, now...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised the thresholds that govern pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (HSR Act), as well as the thresholds...more
Antitrust activity in the energy and chemical sectors was steady and robust in 2020. Even though U.S. antitrust agencies witnessed the first year-over-year drop in total merger activity since 2012, the agencies investigated...more
U.S. antitrust agencies have jointly announced that they are encouraging certain competitor collaborations in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, and that—although antitrust laws remain in force—the agencies will provide...more