On August 17, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had secured a win in court to block the merger of two of the largest construction adhesive brands. The ruling is a significant triumph for the FTC and a useful data point for dealmakers evaluating how the agency is litigating – and where it is choosing to litigate – merger challenges under Chairman Andrew Ferguson.
Why this matters
For parties contemplating mergers that raise potential horizontal overlap concerns, several practical takeaways emerge:
- Prepare for federal court, not the FTC’s administrative docket. If the agency is committed to litigating merger challenges to final judgment in federal district court, merging parties should plan for full-blown federal litigation – including trial – as the primary (not merely preliminary) battleground, including the associated discovery burden, timeline and evidentiary standards that this entails.
- Building materials and other consumer-facing input markets remain a priority. The agency’s public messaging ties this enforcement action to housing affordability and cost-of-living themes, signaling continued scrutiny of consolidation in building products and other markets seen as directly affecting household costs.
- Brand concentration arguments retain force. The FTC’s theory here rested on eliminating direct competition between two well-known, closely positioned brands within the same category – a straightforward horizontal theory that remains a core enforcement priority regardless of procedural reforms.
To learn more about this ruling, please see the client alert published by Cooley’s antitrust team.
