Tag: Antitrust
Treatment of M&A Non-solicits and Employee Comp Diligence Under New Antitrust Guidelines
Last month, the FTC and DOJ issued a set of antitrust guidelines addressing certain employment and compensation practices that are most likely to occur in the high-tech and healthcare industries where highly-skilled employees are in demand. Specifically, the guidelines clarify that an agreement among competing employers to limit or fix […]
Federal Antitrust Authorities Step Up Merger Enforcement – Recent Victories Buoy Enforcers
Obama Administration antitrust enforcers have faced criticism over the last year for not being sufficiently aggressive, allegedly leading to concentrated industries to the detriment of consumers. The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission appear to have responded by stepping up enforcement.The agencies’ efforts are bearing fruit. In just the […]
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.