The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds and premerger filing fees under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires premerger notification of...more
On January 7, 2025, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a record USD5.68m civil penalty to settle alleged pre-merger coordination in violation of the HSR Act. This settlement is the largest dollar penalty that has...more
1/15/2025
/ Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gun-Jumping ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Oil & Gas ,
Unfair Competition
Until relatively recently, private equity buyers were viewed as largely benign. Where antitrust regulators expressed concerns with private equity buyers, it was generally in the context of them being viewed as sub-optimal...more
The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) took effect in July 2023. It aims to regulate subsidies granted by non-EU countries to ensure that they do not distort competition in the EU internal market. For dealmakers, it is...more
2/29/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
EU ,
Filing Requirements ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Foreign Subsidies ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
International Trade ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Mergers ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements
Traditionally, private equity firms were seen as benign investors from an antitrust perspective. This is changing. In the past 12 months, PE-funded acquisitions have faced progressively more rigorous scrutiny by antitrust...more
2/28/2024
/ Antitrust Division ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Merger Controls ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The FTC revises the jurisdictional and filing fee thresholds annually based on the change in gross national product. The FTC also revises filing fees annually based on changes to the consumer price index under Division GG of...more
1/25/2024
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Mergers ,
Premerger Notifications ,
Size of Persons Test ,
Size of Transaction Test ,
Threshold Requirements
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) (collectively, the Agencies) recently issued the Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2022 (the Report). Covering the...more
On July 19, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division announced sweeping changes to how they review deals. The agencies published new “Merger Guidelines” that identify the competition...more
7/24/2023
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Antitrust Division ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ,
Horizontal Merger Guidelines ,
Merger Agreements ,
Merger Controls ,
Regulatory Reform
On June 27, 2023, the FTC announced a notice of proposed amendments to the premerger filing requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act....more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 includes significant changes affecting large M&A transactions and deals involving certain foreign entities. The Act would also give state attorneys general additional control over...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires pre-merger notification of certain transactions to the FTC...more
Pandemic-induced lull in M&A activity drove down the number of reportable transactions by 21.6% in FY2020, though preliminary monthly figures for FY2021 have quickly climbed and surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
...more
The appointment of Lina Khan as Chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission is the latest in a series of developments – including investigations, legislative proposals for overhauls large and small, and reinvigorated...more
HSR filing thresholds decrease for the first time in over a decade – size-of-transaction threshold to be USD92.0 million -
For the first time since 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced decreases to the...more
Merger review processes are being impacted worldwide as merger control authorities adapt to take account of the consequences of Covid-19 coronavirus. While critical transactions are likely to be reviewed, as far as possible,...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced increases to the notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act, which requires pre-merger notification of certain transactions to the FTC...more
This newsletter is our take on the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business. Elaine Johnston, partner and Global Co-Head of A&O’s Antitrust Group, based in New York, is our editor this month....more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division ("DOJ") recently issued their Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2017 (the "Report"). The key takeaways from the...more
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (“DOJ”) recently issued their Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2016 (the “Report”). The key takeaways from the...more