Antitrust Lawyer Blog

Historically, the FTC and DOJ have sought to unwind consummated mergers that are deemed to be anticompetitive.  During Trump’s first year in office, the FTC and DOJ have demonstrated their willingness to unwind anticompetitive mergers that somehow sneaked by the regulators. FTC Seeks to Unwind Merger of Prosthetic Knee Manufacturers On December 20, 2017, the…

On December 20, 2017, the FTC issued an administrative complaint seeking to unwind a merger between prosthetic knee manufacturers Otto Bock HealthCare North America, Inc. (“Otto Bock”) and FIH Group Holdings, LLC (“Freedom”). Background On September 22, 2017, Otto Bock and Freedom simultaneously executed a merger agreement and consummated their merger.  Within four days of…

On December 15, 2017, a federal district court granted the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) and North Dakota Attorney General’s request for a preliminary injunction against Sanford Health’s proposed acquisition of Mid Dakota Clinic, a large multispecialty group, pending the FTC’s administrative trial on the merits scheduled for January of 2018.  FTC v. Sanford Health, et…

On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to adopt the Restoring Internet Freedom Order and in doing so, scrapped its net neutrality rules that were put in place in 2015. Net Neutrality is a principle that allows for an open and free internet.  The Internet Service Providers (ISPs”) are the gatekeepers…

On December 6, 2017, Senator Elizabeth Warren sharply criticized the state of antitrust enforcement in a speech at the Open Markets Institute. She said that antitrust enforcers adopted the Chicago School principles, which narrowed the scope of the antitrust laws and allowed mega-mergers to proceed resulting in many concentrated industries.  She believes that antitrust enforcers…

On December 5, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued an administrative complaint challenging Tronox Limited’s proposed acquisition of Cristal, a merger of two of the top three suppliers of chloride process titanium dioxide (“TiO2”) in the North American market. Background On February 21, 2017, Tronox inked a deal to buy Cristal for $1.67 billion…

On November 21, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc. The vertical merger, which combines AT&T’s video distribution platform with Time Warner’s programming, could be the first such deal litigated in almost 40 years. According to the DOJ, the proposed acquisition will result…

On November 22, 2017, the FTC announced that retail fuel station and convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (“ACT”) agreed to divest three fuel stations in Alabama to settle FTC charges that ACT’s proposed acquisition of Jet-Pep, Inc. (“Jet-Pep”) would violate federal antitrust law. Under the terms of the deal, ACT will acquire ownership or…

On November 20, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s (“AT&T”) proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. (“Time Warner”). The vertical merger, which combines AT&T’s video distribution platform with Time Warner’s programming, could be the first such deal litigated in almost 40 years. According to the…

On November 16, 2017, Makan Delrahim, recently confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), delivered a speech on the relationship between antitrust as law enforcement and his goal of reducing regulation. Delrahim explained that effective antitrust enforcement lessens the need for market regulations and that behavioral…