Tag: Antitrust
DOJ’s Top Antitrust Official Turns Spotlight on Broadened Scope of Bank Merger Enforcement
In the wake of major bank failures in the US, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has signaled that it plans to step up antitrust enforcement of bank mergers. In June 2023, the DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter delivered a speech at the Brookings Institution, providing listeners with insights […]
Court of Justice Sets Lightning Rod for EU Foreign Direct Investment Screening
On 13 July 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its first ruling on the European Union Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regulation, which entered into force in October 2020. In short, the CJEU clarified in Xella Magyarország that the regulation does not apply to acquisitions […]
EU’s Foreign Subsidies Check for M&A Deals Goes Live
The European Union’s new screening tool for third-country subsidies introduces a novel form of mergers & acquisitions scrutiny. Companies worldwide need to account for timing and execution risks arising from this system when M&A deals involve businesses with activities in the EU. The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) applies to deals agreed […]
Draft Revised Merger Guidelines Foreshadow More Aggressive Antitrust Enforcement
The US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission released draft revised merger guidelines in an effort to support the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust enforcement agenda. The draft guidelines, which are subject to public comment for 60 days, spell out novel theories of harm that the Biden DOJ and FTC have pursued […]
FTC Proposes Sweeping Changes to HSR Rules That Could Substantially Increase Burden, Time to Prepare Filings
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a proposal for a radical overhaul to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification program that, if adopted, would dramatically increase costs, burden and the time required to prepare filings for transactions that must be notified to the government. Under the HSR Act, parties to transactions are required […]
Assessing Overlapping Boards After DOJ Crackdown
Over the past year, the U.S. Department of Justice has garnered headlines by issuing press releases announcing that directors have stepped down from 10 company boards, in response to DOJ concerns that their roles violated the Clayton Act’s Section 8 prohibitions on interlocking directorates.In October 2022, the DOJ announced the resignation of directors from […]
Europe’s Top Court on Merger Review: No Deals Are ‘Off the Table’
The European Union’s top court recently confirmed that an M&A transaction that does not require mandatory pre-merger authorization may be investigated post-merger on suspicion that the transaction involved an ‘abuse’ of the acquirer’s ‘dominant position’. Per the ruling in the Towercast case, pre-merger authorization under the EU Merger Regulation (or […]
New Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Thresholds and Filing Fees Announced
The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act thresholds, which govern when acquisitions must be reported to the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, will increase slightly more than 10% in February 2023. The minimum “size-of-transaction” threshold will increase from $101 million to $111.4 million. The increases, which are based on changes in […]
HSR Filing Fees Increase Substantially for Large Transactions, Boost FTC and DOJ Antitrust Enforcement Funding
On December 29, 2022, President Joe Biden signed a funding bill into law that includes provisions that significantly change the filing fees for mergers & acquisitions notifiable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. For transactions valued at more than $5 billion, HSR filing fees are set to jump approximately 800% – […]
Major Reforms Proposed for UK Merger Control: What Dealmakers Need to Know
On April 20, 2022, the UK government announced wide-ranging reforms to UK competition and consumer law policy, including significant threshold changes to the UK merger control regime. In particular, while the government aims to retain the UK’s voluntary and non-suspensory merger regime, the proposed reforms plan to expand the already extensive […]