The EC closed its investigation into the British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, joint venture, concluding that commitments that the airlines offered were sufficient to alleviate the anticompetitive concerns. The parties pledged to make landing and take-off slots available at London Heathrow airport to facilitate the entry or expansion of competitors on routes between London and several major US airports.
Category Archives: Merger Review
DOJ & Election Systems Agree on Asset Sell Off
May 28, 2010 – 2:00 pm
The Antitrust Division is requiring Election Systems & Software (“ESS”) to sell off allversions of Premier’s hardware, software, and firmware used to record, tabulate, transmit or report votes. The buyer must also be granted a license to use ESS’s software for disabled voters. A division spokesperson stated that the divestiture will restore competition allowing for […]
FTC Wins Order to Undo Battery Merger
May 28, 2010 – 1:36 pm
FTC ALJ ordered Polypore to sell the stake in Microporous to an FTC-approved buyer within six months of the final order. Polypore had acquired the battery maker just over two years ago, and the FTC at that time sought unsuccessfully to block the deal. The ALJ found that the FTC demonstrated that the merger had […]
FTC Permits Google Acquisition of AdMob to Move Forward
May 26, 2010 – 1:55 pm
After expressing some concerns about the competitive effects of Google’s acquisition of AdMob, the FTC unanimously voted to close the investigation citing Apple’s recent acquisition of Quattro Wireless and plans to become an aggressive competitor in the mobile advertising network market.
DOJ Permits Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger to Move Forward With Divestitures
February 26, 2010 – 12:19 pm
Update February 2010: The UK enforcement authorities have withdraw their prior approval and are reconsidering the merger. The Department of Justice agreed not to challenge the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger upon the condition that Ticketmaster would license ticketing software to AEG, enabling that company to offer a competitive ticketing alternative and provides the incentive for it […]
FTC Announces a Drop in Hart-Scott-Rodino Thresholds
February 2, 2010 – 11:28 am
The dollar amounts used to determine whether a merger or acquisition is subject to the mandatory pre-merger notification requirements has been raised regularly since the law was first implemented in the 1970s. For the first time, the Federal Trade Commission recently announced that the thresholds will be reduced. The decision is based on the view that the […]
FTC Green Lights Panasonic/Sanyo Merger with Agreed Divestitures
December 1, 2009 – 3:30 pm
The FTC has agreed to permit the Panasonic/Sanyo merger to move forward pursuant to an agreement to sell Sanyo’s nickel hydride battery business, a type of rechargeable battery, to Fujitsu subsidiary FDK. Sanyo had previously agreed to sell other portions of its battery making business to the company. The divesitures resolved the FTC’s concern that the […]
CVS/Caremark Merger Raises Vertical Concerns
November 30, 2009 – 4:29 pm
Attacks on vertical mergers have been quite rare in recent years, but the FTC, at the urging of several members of Congress, appears to be taking a keen interest in the merger between retail pharmacy chain, CVS, and Caremark, a leading pharmacy benefit manager. The primary concern appears to be that the merged firm will improperly […]
AT&T Completes Acquisition of Centennial Communications
November 30, 2009 – 4:22 pm
After agreeing to (1) divest certain assets in Mississippi and Louisiana, (2) honor Centennial’s existing agreements, and (3) restricting the flow of competitive information with partially owned AT&T subsidiary American Movil, the FCC cleared the way for AT&T to complete its acquisition of Centennial Communications. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, while concurring in the decision, expressed […]
FTC Approves Merck/Schering-Plough Merger with Divestitures
November 5, 2009 – 3:35 pm
The FTC has given a green light to the Merck& Co. Schering-Plough merger on the condition that Merck divest its stake in Merial Ltd an animal health joint venture with Sanofi-Aventis, and Schering divests its assets associated with nausea drugs for humans. Both companies are reported to be in the process of compiling with the […]