Articles Posted in FTC

The government shutdown is likely to delay FTC merger reviews, but the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) Second Request investigations will likely proceed as they normally do albeit with less staff.  Although the FTC’s Premerger Notification Office (PNO) and the DOJ’s Premerger Office remain open during regular hours to receive HSR filings, the FTC PNO will…

On September 5, 2018, Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing Tronox Ltd. (“Tronox”) from completing its proposed $2.4 billion acquisition of National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd. (“Cristal”) until after a final ruling in the FTC’s…

Changes in the economy, technology, international business, and data collection have all converged to make the FTC rethink its enforcement priorities going forward. In the spirit of the 1995 Pitofsky Hearings, the FTC on September 13, 2018 kicked off the first day of hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century at Georgetown…

New FTC Model Timing Agreement Key Provisions of the Model Timing Agreement Concluding Thoughts Parties still encouraged to reach out to staff early on in a Second Request investigation to negotiate a timing agreement. The FTC expects that most parties will enter into timing agreements that will conform to the new Model Timing Agreement. But…

On June 20, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that it will hold a series of public hearings on whether broad-based changes in the economy, evolving business practices, new technologies, or international developments might require adjustments to competition and consumer protection enforcement law, enforcement priorities, and policy.  The multi-day, multi-part hearings will take place…

On June 5, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced that Northrop Grumman’s (“Northrop”) $7.8 billion acquisition of aerospace and defense contractor Orbital ATK, a vertical merger that combined a supplier with its customer, could proceed so long as the Northrop agreed to certain behavioral remedies. According to the complaint, Northrop is one of four…

On April 27, 2018, the FTC announced that Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC (“Amneal”) may complete its acquisition of an equity share in Impax Laboratories Inc. (“Impax”) so long as Impax divests its rights and assets for ten products to three separate companies. The FTC concluded that the proposed acquisition would have reduced competition in three markets…

On March 19, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed an administrative complaint to block CDK Global’s ( “CDK”) proposed acquisition of Auto/Mate.  The FTC alleged that the deal would violate Sections 5 of the FTC Act and 7 of the Clayton Act.  The parties to the deal abandoned the deal after being faced with…

On March 7, 2018, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced it entered into a settlement agreement with Air Medical Group allowing it to acquire AMR for $2.4 billion. The two providers of ambulance services agreed to divest inter-facility air ambulance transport services in Hawaii to resolve FTC concerns that their proposed merger would…

On March 5, 2018, the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) filed an administrative complaint alleging that J.M. Smucker Co.’s (“Smucker”) proposed $285 million acquisition of Conagra Brands, Inc.’s (“Conagra”) Wesson cooking oil brand may substantially lessen competition and reduce competition for canola and vegetable oils in the United States. Smucker currently owns the Crisco…