For the first time since 1992, the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and the Federal Trade Commission plan to revise the merger guidelines that explain the federal government’s enforcement policy with respect to mergers between horizontal competitors. Originally drafted in 1968, the guidelines underwent major revisions in the 1980s and again in the early […]
Category Archives: Merger Review
EC Approves Pfizer/Wyeth Merger with Divestures
September 8, 2009 – 4:08 pm
Update September 2009: A group of California pharmacies have filed a challenge to the merger in the Northern District of California. The pharmacies cite the fact that banks receiving TARP money are financing the deal as well as the size of the merged firm as grounds for blocking the deal. Pfizer Inc. has secured the […]
FTC Challenges Merger Between Heart Valve Device Makers
August 10, 2009 – 5:24 pm
The FTC has authorized a lawsuit to challenge Thoratec Corp.’s proposed $282 million takeover of rival medical device maker HeartWare International Inc.. The Commission claims that the merger would allow Thoratec to maintain its monopoly on the U.S. market of the left ventricular device (LVAD) used to keep patients suffering from end-stage heart failure alive while […]
Lufthansa Offers Competition Fixes In EC Takeover Probe
June 17, 2009 – 4:45 pm
The European Commission has extended its review of Lufthansa AG’s bid to take over the largely state-owned Austrian Airlines AG because the airlines have offered concessions to handle the regulator’s competition concerns over a deal that calls for Austria to take on a significant share of the airline’s debt. When the EC initially opened its […]
Whole Foods Merger: Market Definition & Marginal Consumers
June 1, 2009 – 2:50 pm
Update June 2009: The FTC has granted final approval to the proposed settlement. Update March 2009: The parties have reached a settlement allowing the merger to move forward with Whole Foods agreeing to divest the intellectual property in the Wild Oats brand, 13 stores, and the leases and assests of 19 closed stores. A divestiture […]
DOJ to Investigate Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger
February 12, 2009 – 5:40 pm
Not surprisingly, the Antitrust Division announced that it would investigate the proposed merger between the ticket selling giant and the concern promoter that had begun selling tickets of its own. Artist Bruce Springsteen and several senators from both parties expressed concerns about the proposed merger.
DOJ & EC Approve Sun Microsystems/Oracle Merger
February 1, 2009 – 1:45 pm
Update January 2010: The EC agreed to let the merger move forward without conditions. Update November 2009: The EC issued a statement of objections to the merger expressing concern over the fate of Sun’s open source database. The DOJ reiterated its position that sufficient competitive threats existed in the market to prevent anticompetitive effects from […]
DOJ Requires Divesitures in Waste Management Merger
January 4, 2009 – 4:00 pm
The DOJ has settled a challenge to the Republic Services/Allied Waste merger, requiring divestiture of a number of routes, transfer stations and land fills. The merger joins the second and third largest waste management firms in the US.
FTC Challenges Drug Acquisitions
January 4, 2009 – 3:27 pm
The FTC, along with the state of Minnesota, has sued Ovation Pharmaceuticals, arguing that the drug company acted anticompetitively in aquiring over the course of several months in 2005 and 2006 the only two drugs available in the US to treat a certain congenital heart defects. It acquired Indocin in August 2005, while a potentially competitive drug, […]
Proposed Environmental Services Merger Pulled in Light of FTC Opposition
December 1, 2008 – 3:40 pm
CCS Corp. agreed to abandon its plan to acquire Newport Resources Environmental services business. Although the company maintained that the acquisition of the business providing environmental services to off-shore oil and gas providers was not anticompetitive, it did not wish to engage in a protracted court battle. Prior Post: The FTC has sought a temporary […]