Tag Archives: Merger

DOJ’s Kanter: New Merger Guidelines to Address Enforcement’s ‘Disconnect’ with Court Precedent and Market Realities

By Joshua Jowdy and Thomas Hogan on September 22, 2022 Posted in Antitrust Litigation

On Sept. 13, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter delivered remarks[1] at the Georgetown Antitrust Law Symposium, largely focusing on merger control enforcement at the Department of Justice (DOJ) under his leadership. After touting the Antitrust Division’s increased appetite for merger control litigation in the 10 months since his appointment, delivering on a promise that negotiated … Continue Reading

No Health Care Merger Too Small for the FTC to Take an Antitrust Look

By Carl Hittinger and Tyson Herrold on February 12, 2018 Posted in FTC, Healthcare

In our November and December 2016 articles, we discussed the Federal Trade Commission’s proclivity to challenge health care mergers, even when the purported anticompetitive effects of the relatively economically limited merger would be confined to a local geographic region. For example, in 2014, the FTC, joined by the Idaho state attorney general, in St. Alphonsus … Continue Reading

The FTC Is Looking You Up and Down(stream): Insights From the Acting Director of the Bureau of Competition on Antitrust Enforcement for Vertical Mergers

By Bill DeVinney on January 25, 2018 Posted in FTC, Merger

Since Assistant Attorney General Delrahim’s inaugural remarks on vertical mergers (covered here), the business press has been atwitter about the antitrust enforcement agencies’ views of those mergers. Bruce Hoffman, the acting director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition, recently delivered a speech explaining that the FTC will continue to review vertical mergers as … Continue Reading

The Trump DOJ’s View on Merger Enforcement and Remedies Explained

By Danyll Foix on November 20, 2017 Posted in Merger Review

President Trump’s head of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, Makan Delrahim, recently explained that the division will cut back on behavioral commitments such as consent orders regulating conduct and will instead rely more on structural changes such as divestitures to remedy merger concerns. This could signal significant changes in how the DOJ resolves concerns … Continue Reading

The ‘Failing Firm’ Defense and How Not to Lose It, Article Explains

By BakerHostetler on July 19, 2017 Posted in Articles, Merger, Merger Review

Law360 featured an insightful article today on a recently unsealed court opinion blocking the $367 million merger of rival nuclear waste processing companies. The court blocked the merger, while rejecting the parties’ argument that the deal should be approved because otherwise the acquired firm would collapse and the market would suffer. The merging companies did not … Continue Reading

Hospital Seeks Second Opinion on Certifying Class with Uninjured Members

By Danyll Foix on June 13, 2017 Posted in Class Action Litigation

Ten years into litigation, a hospital has moved to decertify a class of plaintiffs who claim the hospital’s merger caused them to overpay for medical services. Arguing there is insufficient proof that class members were harmed, the hospital’s motion invites the court to jump into the fray about whether classes may be certified when they … Continue Reading

BakerHostetler Antitrust Lawyer Reviews Unusual Incentive Payment/Failing Firm Defense Remedy in Recent Hospital Merger

By BakerHostetler on November 17, 2016 Posted in Articles, FTC, FTC Act, Government Investigations, Healthcare, Merger Review

Antitrust Partner Danyll W. Foix wrote an article, published November 17, 2016 by Law360, reviewing the Federal Trade Commission’s acceptance of an unusual settlement for a challenged hospital merger, explaining that “the settlement ends the FTC’s challenge of a transaction that was too small to be reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and the settlement is … Continue Reading

FTC Takes Action to Block Hospital Mergers

By Carl Hittinger and Tyson Herrold on November 16, 2016 Posted in Healthcare, Merger Review

In the 1990s, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement actions to block mergers between health care providers were a rare phenomenon successfully obtained. In many instances, state Attorneys General filled the role of watchdog, especially since hospital mergers were relatively small and implicated local markets. Many, like the Pennsylvania Attorney General, were unable to convince the … Continue Reading

FTC Accepts Practical ‘Failing Firm’ Defense in Ending Challenge of Nonreportable Transaction

By Danyll Foix on October 18, 2016 Posted in Healthcare, Merger Review, Premerger Notification

The Federal Trade Commission’s recently announced proposed settlement of its challenge of CentraCare Health’s acquisition of St. Cloud Medical Group (SCMG) is doubly noteworthy. The settlement ends the challenge of a transaction that apparently was not reportable under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act, and the settlement is premised on a “failing firm” defense that infrequently is … Continue Reading

CFIUS Report Reflects Continued Need to Plan for Government Scrutiny of Cross-border Transactions

By Danyll Foix on March 24, 2015 Posted in CFIUS

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) recently reported its 2013 activities, confirming the continuation of its heightened review and investigation of certain foreign direct investments in U.S. businesses. CFIUS, a panel of high-level Washington bureaucrats, was described in a prior post. CFIUS reviews and investigates mergers and acquisitions that could result … Continue Reading

To Report or Not to Report, That Is the CFIUS Question

By Danyll Foix on February 16, 2015 Posted in CFIUS, Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification

With the complexities inherent in many cross-border transactions – from cultural differences to the growing number of competition authorities demanding paperwork – the last thing one may want to think about is whether to submit a voluntary report of a transaction to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The recent decision … Continue Reading

“Oh help me, please doctor, I’m damaged”*—What does the Future Hold for Hospital-Physician Acquisitions?

By Jonathan Lewis on February 12, 2015 Posted in Government Investigations, Healthcare, Merger Review

With the ink still drying on the Ninth Circuit’s opinion affirming the Idaho federal district court’s order requiring St. Luke’s Health System to unwind its acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group—a for-profit, physician-owned, multi-specialty group comprising approximately 44 physicians located in Nampa, Idaho—you may ask what the decision means for other providers? Hospitals considering future acquisitions of … Continue Reading

“And they’re closing all the factories down”* — Going Dark During a Merger Review

By Jonathan Lewis on February 10, 2015 Posted in Merger, Merger Review

Demand in your industry has been declining for years, the decline is projected to continue for the foreseeable future, and you are one of the few cost-effective manufacturers around. You just inked a deal to buy a competing manufacturer, and you are working hard to get your deal cleared through the merger review process. But … Continue Reading

What is the CFIUS: Information to Know When Doing Transactions with Foreign Parties

By Danyll Foix on November 3, 2014 Posted in CFIUS, Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review, Premerger Notification

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow’s recent and much publicized unveiling of legislation to expand the CFIUS review process of transactions likely caused businesspeople everywhere to ask: “What’s the CFIUS?” In short, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), comprised of high-level Washington bureaucrats, reviews certain domestic transactions involving foreign parties and determines or recommends … Continue Reading

Dollar General—“Setting the Record Straight” on Antitrust for Family Dollar

By Jonathan Lewis on September 4, 2014 Posted in FTC Act, Government Investigations, Merger, Merger Review

Unless you have been in the middle of a bidding war where antitrust concerns are front and center, what is playing out between Dollar General and Family Dollar is probably unfamiliar to you, as it is rarely seen outside of the boardroom. To get you up to speed, back in July Family Dollar agreed to be acquired … Continue Reading

Don’t Pop the Cork Just Yet—Growing Criticism of Massachusetts AG’s Settlement with Partners Healthcare Just Might Send the Parties Back to the Drawing Board

By Jonathan Lewis on July 22, 2014 Posted in Government Investigations, Healthcare, Merger Review

After touting a proposed settlement with Partners HealthCare (Partners) that supposedly would “fundamentally alter [Partners’] negotiating power for 10 years and control health costs across [Partners’] entire network,” Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Martha Coakley is now playing defense trying to fend off criticism of the deal that just might send the parties back to the drawing board. … Continue Reading

Let The Rejoicing Begin, Or Not—Massachusetts AG’s Settlement With Partners Healthcare Is No Harbinger of Things to Come

By Jonathan Lewis on June 27, 2014 Posted in Government Investigations, Healthcare, Merger, Merger Review

After almost half a dozen years of investigating Partners HealthCare’s (“Partners”) contracting practices and its proposed acquisitions of two competing hospital systems, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced a “final resolution” that she says “will fundamentally alter [Partners’] negotiating power for 10 years and control health costs across [Partners’] entire network.” But before you run … Continue Reading

US Airways and American Airlines Have a Potential Friend in FTC Commissioner Wright

By Jonathan Lewis on September 30, 2013 Posted in Merger, Merger Review, Sherman Act 7

In their answer to the government’s complaint challenging their proposed merger, US Airways and American Airlines (the “Airlines”) tout the “immense benefits to the traveling public” that the combined “US Airways and American Airlines will offer” with “more and better travel options for passengers through an improved domestic and international network, something that neither carrier … Continue Reading