Articles Posted in Merger Highlights

On May 20, 2014, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it will require Ardent Mills, a proposed merger of the wheat milling operations of the companies ConAgra, Cargill, and CHS, to divest four competitively significant mills to an upfront buyer before clearing the deal for approval. These four mills are located in regions encompassing…

On May 30, 2014, the federal district court of the District of Columbia, Judge Beryl Howell upheld the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) newly adopted HSR rule governing reporting of transfers of certain exclusive patent rights in the pharmaceutical industry. The rule was adopted in November of 2013.  The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (“PhRMA”) trade…

On May 30, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) approved the merger between Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, the two largest men’s wear companies without any conditions. On January 28, 2014, the FTC issued a second to request to review the transaction.  After approximately four months, the FTC determined that ample competition existed in…

On April 24, 2014, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it has reached an agreement with Baazarvoice which will remedy its illegal acquisition of PowerReviews. Under the proposed remedy, Baazarvoice will sell all the assets it obtained from its acquisition of PowerReviews to a divestiture buyer, and to compensate it for PowerReview’s deteriorated market…

On April 17, 2014, the Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, Deborah Feinstein, praised the agency’s role in preventing Jostens, Inc. (“Jostens”) from acquiring American Achievement Corp. (“AAC”). In a statement, she said, “The parties’ abandonment of the transaction preserves competition for consumers in the markets for class rings, which are an…

Our own Robert Doyle is often sought out by premier news agencies for comments on the leading anti-trust matters of the day, and recently, Bloomberg interviewed Bob on Hertz’s potential re-acquisition of several locations which it had divested to Advantage Rent a Car during its acquisition of Dollar Thrifty. The resulting Bloomberg article, including quotations…

On April 14, 2014, the FTC announced that it reached a settlement agreement with Akorn Enterprises (“Akorn”), which allows it to proceed with its acquisition of Hi-Tech Pharmacal, Inc. (“Hi-Tech”). Specifically, Akorn and Hi-Tech will sell the rights and assets to three generic prescription eye medications and two generic topical anesthetics to Watson Laboratories, Inc.,…

Last week, the newly-established UK Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), its main anti-trust and consumer protection agency, announced an advisory process to provide guidance to businesses on the application of competition law to potential horizontal and vertical agreements raising novel or unresolved issues has been put into practice. The “Short-form Opinion” (“SfO”) tool has been launched on…

On April 10, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it will end its litigation against Ardagh Group SA’s $1.7 billion acquisition of Saint-Gobain Containers, Inc.’s U.S. bottling operations, after the former agreed to divest six of its nine glass container plants in the United States. The case began when the FTC requested for…

On April 8, 2014, China’s Insurance Regulatory Commission (“CIRC”) announced that it is relaxing merger and acquisition (M&A) rules in the insurance industry. Specifically, CIRC scrapped the rule that would previously limit insurers from buying more than one peer that competes in the same market segment. This move has been welcomed by both domestic and…