Articles Posted in Merger Highlights

On May 20, 2011, the DOJ announced that VeriFone Systems Inc.(“VeriFone”), Hypercom Corp. (“Hypercom”), and Ingenico S.A. (“Ingenico”) abandoned plans for Hypercom to divest its U.S. point-of-sale (“POS”) business to Ingenico as the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) did not find the divestiture adequate to resolve the competitive concerns raised by the VeriFone/Hypercom transaction. The divestiture…

On May 10, 2011, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil antitrust lawsuit challenging George's Inc.'s (“George's”) acquisition of Tyson Foods' (“Tyson”) chicken processing complex in Harrisonburg, VA. This is a challenge to a consummated $3 million acquisition in a very limited geographic market in Virginia. The DOJ alleges that the consummated acquisition eliminates…

On May 6, 2011, Unilever NV (“Unilever”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reached an agreement to settle antitrust concerns over its $3.7 billion acquisition of hair care company Alberto-Culver Co. (“Alberto”). The DOJ's Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to block the proposed transaction between…

On April 8, 2011, Stericycle Inc. (“Stericycle”) entered into a settlement agreement with Department of Justice (“DOJ”) allowing it to proceed with its acquisition of Healthcare Waste Solutions Inc. (“HWS”). The DOJ along with the attorney general of the state of New York filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the transaction and simultaneously filed a…

On March 29, 2011, Department of Justice (“DOJ”) reached a settlement with Dean Foods Company (“Dean”) that requires Dean to divest a significant milk processing plant in Waukesha, Wis., and related assets that it acquired from the Foremost Farms USA Cooperative, including the Golden Guernsey brand name. The DOJ's Antitrust Division and state attorneys general…

On January 26, 2011, in a surprising enforcement action, the Canadian Competition Bureau publically announced its application to the Competition Tribunal for an order to undo the consummated acquisition by CCS Corporation (“CCS”) of Complete Environmental Inc. (“Complete”) and its proposed Babkirk Secure Landfill in northeastern British Columbia (Babkirk”). The Competition Bureau determined, following a…

On February 22, 2011, Judge Andrew J. Guilford of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied the Federal Trade Commission's (“FTC”) motion for a preliminary injunction and also dissolved the temporary restraining order that had been in place since mid-December. The district court ruled that the FTC had not shown that…

On February 24, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission put into effect the revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires premerger notification for certain large transactions. Federal law requires that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice be notified of mergers, acquisitions, and other transactions of a certain size prior to…