The Antitrust Division has sued to block of merger of VeriFone and Hypercom, manufacturers of point of sale credit and debit card reader. The two U.S. companies currently compete with French-based Ingenico in what is essentially a three competitor market. The Division alleges that the 3-2 merger would raise prices for retailers purchasing POS card readers. The merging parties have offered to divest Hypercom’s U.S. operations in a sale to Ingenico, but Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney commented that “[t]he proposed divestiture does not resolve the significant competitive concerns posed by the merger, and in some ways exacerbates them.” A few days later, the parties agreed to scrap the proposed sale to Ingenico and to seek another buyer for Hypercom’s U.S. operations.