ANTITRUST ALERT
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
ANTITRUST ALERT
A Global Resource for Compliance Officers & Legal Advisors
competitive harm
Subscribe to competitive harm's Posts

THE LATEST: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Antitrust Counterclaim against Labor Union Clarifying Scope of Noerr-Pennington Doctrine and the Implied Labor Exemption

by | Jul 28, 2017 | ,

On July 24, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an antitrust counterclaim brought by ICTSI Oregon, Inc. (ICTSI), the operator of a marine shipping facility, against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). ILWU is a labor union that represents many ICTSI employees, including longshoremen and mechanics. PMA is a multi-employer collective bargaining association covering the West Coast of the United States, which represents employers, including ICTSI, in negotiations with labor unions.

The opinion elucidates the current law surrounding the scope of Noerr-Pennington immunity and the implied labor exemption to antitrust liability.

WHAT HAPPENED
  • ICTSI’s antitrust counterclaim arose out of a labor dispute concerning ILWU’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with PMA, which required that all “reefer work” (i.e., plugging, unplugging and monitoring refrigerated shipping containers) performed by PMA members must be assigned to ILWU workers. When ICTSI instead assigned its reefer work to a rival union, the collective bargaining agreement administrator, the Joint Coast Labor Relations Committee, notified ICTSI that it was in violation of the CBA and faced monetary fines and expulsion from the collective bargaining association.
  • ICTSI initiated a proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to resolve the dispute. The NLRB ruled that the rival union workers were entitled to the reefer work. While the NLRB proceedings were pending, ILWU and PMA filed suits in the US District Court for the District of Oregon seeking an injunction ordering ICTSI to comply with the Joint Committee decision and assign the work to ILWU.

(more…)



read more

THE LATEST: Federal Trade Commission and State Attorney General Seek to Block a Health System’s Physician Group Acquisition

by | Jun 29, 2017 | , ,

With its latest lawsuit to block an acquisition of physicians, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) confirmed last week that monitoring physician consolidation is a priority. The FTC and North Dakota Attorney General sued to block the proposed acquisition by a health system (Sanford Health) of Mid-Dakota Clinic (MDC), which both serve the areas of Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota. The deal would allegedly create very high market shares in several physician service markets.

WHAT HAPPENED
  • Sanford Health is a vertically integrated health system, which operates a general acute care hospital in Bismarck and clinics providing primary care and specialty services. Sanford employs approximately 160 physicians who work in Bismarck or Mandan. MDC is a multispecialty medical practice employing 61 physicians who provide services in Bismarck.
  • Concurrent with its sealed federal complaint to preliminarily enjoin the deal, the FTC filed an administrative complaint that alleges that the transaction would create anticompetitive effects in four physician service markets: adult primary care services, pediatric services, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) services, and general surgery services. Sanford and MDC are the area’s two largest providers of each of those services; in general surgery, they are the only providers.
  • The complaint contends that the relevant geographic market is no larger than the four-county Bismarck, ND Metropolitan Statistical Area. The FTC alleges that this area encompasses the locations where, to be marketable to employers, commercial health plan networks must include physicians.
  • The complaint alleges that Sanford and MDC are each other’s closest competitors and that the combination would result in post-transaction market shares of 75 percent for adult primary care services, over 80 percent for pediatric services, over 85 percent for OB/GYN services and 100 percent of general surgery services.
  • The FTC rejects as unsubstantiated and not merger specific the parties’ claims that the transaction would yield significant cost savings and quality improvements. In any event, the FTC alleges that the claimed efficiencies do not outweigh the transaction’s likely competitive harm.

(more…)



read more

THE LATEST: DOJ Price-Fixing Probe Demonstrates That Deal Risk Is Not the Only Antitrust Concern Merging Parties Should Keep in Mind

by | Jun 15, 2017 | , , , ,

Bumble Bee Foods, and two of its senior vice presidents, have recently pled guilty to US Department of Justice (DOJ) charges that they engaged in a conspiracy to fix prices of shelf-stable tuna fish sold in the United States from 2011 to 2013. Bumble Bee agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine that can increase to $81.5 million under certain conditions, and the company’s two senior vice presidents pled guilty and agreed to pay criminal fines as well. The investigation appears to have been prompted by information that the DOJ uncovered during its investigation of Thai Union Group’s (owner of Chicken of the Sea) proposed acquisition of Bumble Bee, which was abandoned after DOJ concerns.

WHAT HAPPENED:
  • On December 19, 2014, Thai Union Group, the largest global producer of shelf-stable tuna, announced that it had agreed to acquire Bumble Bee Foods for $1.5 billion. A year later, on December 3, 2015, the DOJ announced that the parties had abandoned the transaction after the DOJ expressed concerns that the acquisition would harm competition. The DOJ stated that “Thai Union’s proposed acquisition of Bumble Bee would have combined the second and third largest sellers of shelf-stable tuna in the United States in a market long dominated by three major brands, as well as combined the first and second largest domestic sellers of other shelf-stable seafood products.”
  • Beyond its comments about the potential for competitive harm from the transaction, however, the DOJ further noted that “[o]ur investigation convinced us – and the parties knew or should have known from the get go – that the market is not functioning competitively today, and further consolidation would only make things worse.”
  • It appears that the DOJ’s concerns that the market for packaged seafood was not functioning competitively spurred the government to proceed with an investigation into potential collusion among the suppliers of packaged seafood. After its investigation, the DOJ concluded that Bumble Bee Foods, two of its senior vice presidents, and other co-conspirators “discussed the prices of packaged seafood sold in the United States[,] agreed to fix the prices of those products [and] negotiated prices and issued price announcements for packaged seafood in accordance with the agreements they reached.”
WHAT THIS MEANS:
  • In the Mergers & Acquisitions context, the merging parties are most often concerned with the potential risk that antitrust concerns may pose to the deal and the ability to obtain DOJ or Federal Trade Commission (FTC) clearance for the transaction. This criminal investigation by the DOJ demonstrates that the parties need to be aware of their conduct in the market, whether they have engaged in conduct that may be found to be collusive, and the potential consequences of such conduct [...]

    Continue Reading


read more

Aerospace and Defense Series: Trump Administration—Potential for Increased Antitrust Leniency for Vertical Transactions in the Defense Industry

by and | Dec 1, 2016 | ,

President-elect Donald Trump has called for a dramatic increase in defense spending including purchases of new ships and warplanes as well as the addition of tens of thousands of new troops. This increase in spending generally bodes well for the aerospace and defense industry and potentially signals a new era of growth for companies in this space. This article examines how M&A transactions are likely to be reviewed in a Trump administration, with particular focus on “vertical” transactions.

Read “Trump Administration—Potential for Increased Antitrust Leniency for Vertical Transactions in the Defense Industry”



read more

FTC Emphasizes Competitive Issues Arising From Partial Interest Acquisitions

by | May 11, 2016 | ,

On May 9, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) posted an article summarizing recent developments and areas of competitive sensitivity in the acquisition of partial equity interests.  Most antitrust challenges to mergers or acquisitions involve situations in which an acquiror takes control of the target company.  However, substantive antitrust issues also can arise from acquisitions of less than controlling interests.  The FTC has previously sought substantial remedies in acquisitions of minority interests in a competitor.  These remedies have included imposing firewalls, altering companies’ ownership interests to become passive investors, or seeking divestitures.

The FTC’s post, which can be found here, outlines three ways in which partial-interest acquisitions in a competitor could lessen competition.  First, an entity could use its interest—through representatives on a competitor’s board, for example—to affect decisions of the target.  Second, an acquiring company’s partial ownership in its competitor could reduce the acquiring company’s incentives to compete aggressively.  This feature arises because, by virtue of holding an interest in its rival, a company can still achieve an economic gain even if it does not win a competition or make a sale if the company in which it holds an equity interest obtains that business.  Third, an entity could gain access to non-public, competitively sensitive information of its competitor, increasing the risk of coordinated conduct.

None of these theories are new, and they are contained in the 2010 FTC / DOJ Horizontal Merger Guidelines.  Nevertheless, the FTC’s posting provides a helpful reminder for companies contemplating transactions that they need to evaluate not only the obvious anticompetitive effects raised by acquisitions of control, but also the less obvious theories of competitive harm.



read more

BLOG EDITORS

Gregory E. Heltzer

STAY CONNECTED

Subscribe

TOPICS

ARCHIVES

Ranked In Chambers USA 2022
US Leading Firm 2022