Tag: Antitrust
Shareholder Activism and HSR Collide: DOJ Obtains Record Fine from ValueAct
The Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced on July 12 that ValueAct Capital agreed to pay a record $11 million civil penalty to settle claims that ValueAct purchased over $2.5 billion in Halliburton and Baker Hughes stock with the intention of influencing their proposed $35 billion merger without complying with […]
Failure to Comply with the HSR Act: The Price is Going Up
Failure to comply with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR Act”) is about to get a lot more expensive. Effective August 1, 2016, the maximum civil penalty for noncompliance with the premerger notification requirements of the HSR Act will increase from $16,000 to $40,000 per day – a […]
Federal Trade Commission v. Steris Corporation: High Barriers to Proving Likely Anticompetitive Effects from Loss of Future Competition
It has been more than 50 years since the Supreme Court first deliberated over the potential competition doctrine in United States v. Penn-Olin Chemical Co., where the Court recognized that Section 7 of the Clayton Act may be violated based on that theory of competitive harm.
Revised 2016 Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Thresholds
Filing thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act will increase by about 2.5%, effective February 25, 2016, raising the level that a transaction’s value must exceed to trigger a filing from $76.3 million to $78.2 million and making adjustments to the Act’s other key dollar thresholds.
Top 10 Antitrust Developments and Trends to Watch in 2016
Attention in the US during 2016 will be on the presidential campaign, and the election in November will bring a change in the “antitrust guard” at the top of the DOJ and FTC – even if a Democrat wins – that will drive the direction of antitrust enforcement in years […]
UK Supreme Court Confirms Merger Control Threshold for Business Acquisitions
Shortly before Christmas, the UK Supreme Court issued a judgment that provides important guidance on the legal test for assessing the circumstances in which UK merger control rules apply to the acquisition of business assets.
Proposing a Fix? Ready to Litigate the Fix? Recent Cases Should Guide Strategy
Companies considering transactions that raise serious antitrust issues should have a strategy for getting through the Hart-Scott-Rodino review process before finalizing the deal.
High-tech Mergers: Flying “High” on the Antitrust Enforcement Radar
The pace of strategic deal-making has electrified corporate America over the past year and has kept antitrust enforcers on their toes in analysing the potential competitive effects of these deals.
Abandon Ship! Don’t Let Antitrust Risk Sink your Deal
Recent antitrust challenges to mergers, including the FTC’s recent federal court victory, have forced parties to abandon at least three deals in the past few months.
Do Merger Efficiencies Matter in Antitrust Review? Ninth Circuit Says “Yes”
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last month sided with the Federal Trade Commission and required divestiture to unwind a consummated acquisition between two health care providers. In doing so, however, the court broke with long-standing precedent and accepted, in principle, a role for efficiencies in analyzing mergers. The […]