Gregory E. Heltzer
Subscribe to Gregory E. Heltzer's PostsGregory (Greg) E. Heltzer focuses his practice on defending mergers and acquisitions before the US Federal Trade Commission, US Department of Justice, state antitrust authorities and foreign competition authorities. Greg has extensive experience in evaluating whether potential transactions will be cleared by antitrust enforcers and developing a viable path for clearance. In addition, he handles complex antitrust litigation, government investigations and antitrust counseling. Read Greg Heltzer's full bio.
COVID-19’s Impact on HSR Filing Timelines (UPDATED)
By Gregory E. Heltzer, Jon B. Dubrow and Joel R. Grosberg on Mar 20, 2020
Posted In DOJ Developments, FTC Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
With COVID-19-related closures rolling in daily, you may have questions about the operating status of the federal government’s antitrust enforcement agencies. Currently, the HSR review process does not seem to be significantly impacted, although the agencies will not grant a request for early termination during this period (as noted in our recent update, the FTC...
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Procurement Collusion Strike Force’s Focus on Detection Yielding New Investigations
By Gregory E. Heltzer, James W. Kim and Stephen Wu on Mar 10, 2020
Posted In Cartel Enforcement, DOJ Developments
On March 3, 2020, the American Bar Association (ABA) hosted a Q&A with two members of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF)—Mark Grundvig, the Assistant Chief of the DOJ Antitrust Division’s Criminal II section, and Marcus Mills, Special Agent, Major Fraud Investigations Division, USPS Office of Inspector General. During the course of the Q&A, Mr....
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Notification Threshold Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Increased to $94 Million
By Gregory E. Heltzer and Noah Feldman Greene on Jan 28, 2020
Posted In DOJ Developments, FTC Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
The US Federal Trade Commission today announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and for determining whether parties trigger the prohibition against interlocking directors under Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Notification Threshold Adjustments The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976...
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FTC and DOJ Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines Provide Additional Transparency to Agency Practice
By Gregory E. Heltzer, Jon B. Dubrow, Joel R. Grosberg and Matt Evola on Jan 14, 2020
Posted In DOJ Developments, FTC Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
For the first time since the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) published non-horizontal merger guidelines in 1984, the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued updated Vertical Merger Guidelines to explain how the antitrust agencies analyze vertical mergers. The guidelines were published in draft on January 10, 2020, and are now open for a...
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DOJ and Merging Parties Agree on Unprecedented Arbitration Procedure to Resolve Merger Challenge
By Anthony S. Ferrara, Gregory E. Heltzer and Noah Feldman Greene on Oct 11, 2019
Posted In DOJ Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
WHAT HAPPENED: On September 4, 2019, the US Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) sued to block Novelis Inc.’s proposed $2.6 billion acquisition of Aleris Corporation. DOJ alleged that the transaction would combine two of only four North American producers of aluminum auto body sheet (ABS). DOJ further alleged that Aleris was a new and...
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FTC Settlement Agreement Demonstrates Commissioners’ Competing Views on Merger Non-Competes
By Gregory E. Heltzer and Joshua W. Eastby on Oct 4, 2019
Posted In Energy/Commodities, FTC Developments, Mergers & Acquisitions
What Happened DTE and Enbridge’s natural gas pipeline joint venture, Nexus, agreed to purchase the Generation Pipeline (Generation). Generation was owned by a group of sellers including North Coast Gas Transmission (North Coast). Generation’s primary asset is a 23-mile pipeline that serves the Toledo, Ohio, area. North Coast continues to own a competing pipeline near...
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The Latest: Health Care Transactions Will Require Advance Notice to Washington State AG
By Gregory E. Heltzer on Jul 8, 2019
Posted In Healthcare Antitrust, Mergers & Acquisitions
What Happened: On May 7, 2019, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State signed House Bill 1607 into law. The law goes into effect for transactions closing after January 1, 2020, and requires advance notice to the Washington Attorney General (AG) of certain transactions 60 days in advance of closing the transaction. The intent of the...
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THE LATEST: FTC’s New “Technology Task Force” Has Broad Mandate Including Review of Consummated Transactions
By Gregory E. Heltzer and Noah Feldman Greene on Mar 1, 2019
Posted In FTC Developments, Joint Ventures/Competitor Collaboration, Mergers & Acquisitions, Monopolization/Abuse of Dominance, Uncategorized
The US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Competition announced the launch of a new Technology Task Force that will investigate anticompetitive conduct, review past transactions, as well as contribute to pending merger reviews. The FTC’s investigation of consummated transactions will not be limited to large transactions that meet the HSR filing thresholds, but will...
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Mexican Competition Authority Sanctions BorgWarner and REMY Holdings for Gun Jumping
By Gregory E. Heltzer and Sara Fernandez on Feb 20, 2019
Posted In Mergers & Acquisitions
On January 31, the Board of the Mexican Competition Authority—the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE)—approved REMY Holdings International’s acquisition of BorgWarner’s vehicle aftermarket business. However, the companies failed to file and were fined for their misconduct (~$153,134). The fine was less severe because the parties voluntarily acknowledged their failure to notify COFECE. WHAT HAPPENED: On...
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Notification Threshold Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Increased to $90 Million
By Gregory E. Heltzer and Matt Evola on Feb 15, 2019
Posted In DOJ Developments, FTC Developments
The US Federal Trade Commission recently announced increased thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 and for determining whether parties trigger the prohibition against interlocking directors under Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Notification Threshold Adjustments The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976...
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