TWO INVESTMENT FUNDS VIOLATE ANTITURST PRE-MERGER NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AS OUTLINED IN HSR ACT

On December 15, 2008, ESL Partners (“ESL”) of Greenwich, Conn., and ZAM Holdings (“ZAM”) of New York City, two investment funds with holdings in numerous companies, will pay $525,000 and $275,000, respectively, in civil penalties for violating antitrust pre-merger notification requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976 (“HSR Act”).
According to the complaint, after its acquisition of AutoZone, Inc. (“AutoZone”) in September and October 2004, ESL and ZAM each held an excess of the required reporting threshold (under the HSR Act) of $50 million of voting securities of AutoZone. The HSR act imposes certain notification and waiting period requirements on individuals and companies over a certain size before they consummate acquisitions. Since March 2005, the threshold has been adjusted annually to reflect changes in gross national product. The threshold, during the violations, was at $50 million.

Andre Barlow
(202) 589-1834
abarlow@dbmlawgroup.com